BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya (PIA) -- Nueva Vizcaya is now insurgency-free.

Major General Audrey Pasia, commander of the 5th Infantry Division, made this declaration during the flag raising program at the provincial capitol.

Pacia said the declaration underscores the normalization and stabilization of the security situation in the province.

He said the criteria required in the different stages in declaring a province insurgency-free were all satisfied from the insurgency stage, the conflict management stage, the insurgency suppression stage, and the stable internal peace and security stage.

Nueva Vizcaya is the second province in Cagayan Valley to be declared by the AFP as insurgency–free. The province of Quirino was first.

Gov. Jose Gambito said the prevailing insurgency-free state of the province will further spur economic growth and development.

He also anticipates more investment opportunities given the assurance of peace and security in the entire province. 

“This is a major development for our province. After so many decades, we now have a relief to pursue more development projects, especially in our remote communities,” he said.

Gambito also thanked the military, police, and Novo Vizcayanos in general for contributing much to the attainment of peace and order in the province.

“Billions of pesos have been wasted in the fight against insurgency in the country instead of using these resources in uplifting the lives of every Filipino,” he said.      

The AFP said the transformation of the province as insurgency-free started in 1997 when the communist-terrorist groups were very active. With the sustained anti-insurgency efforts of the AFP and the Philippine National Police, the insurgency intensity became inactive until the occurrence of New People’s Army-initiated violent activities and incidents, and criminal acts gradually diminished.

It added that Nueva Vizcaya was under the conflict manageable stage in 2010 wherein a memorandum of agreement was signed between the provincial officials and the Philippine Army to gain a level of security and stability.

Army officials bared the continuing anti-insurgency campaign of the government forces drove the communist–terrorist groups away from the region and encouraged their members to surrender, resulting in zero NPA-initiated violent activities.  

This prompted military officials to declare the province under a stable internal peace and security stage.

The official declaration of Nueva Vizcaya as an insurgency-free province was pushed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan by a resolution based on the recommendation of the Provincial Peace and Order Council, Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council, the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, and certified by the Peace Law Enforcement and Development Support and NTF-ELCAC. (OTB/BME/PIA NVizcaya)