By John Rey Saavedra | Philippine News Agency
CEBU CITY — More than 50 military and police officials on Friday attended the cascading of the national plan to be implemented through the national task force created by President Rodrigo Duterte to end local communist armed conflict.
Lt. Gen. Noel S. Clement, chief of Centcom, said his command, which covers the three regions in the Visayas, spearheaded the cascade session of the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) at the De Goma Hall of the Centcom headquarters in Camp Lapu-Lapu, Lahug here.
“This undertaking is a timely intervention to highlight the necessity and importance of addressing the insurgency problem by means of employing the ‘whole-of-nation approach’ in consonance with the national objectives,” Clement said in a message sent to the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
According to him, the sectors under the task force see the need “to synchronize, integrate and align the programs, activities, and projects (PAPs) of all government agencies and other stakeholders in the Visayas to address the insurgency problem.”
Last December, Duterte issued Executive Order 70 creating the task force with the mandate to provide an efficient mechanism structure for the implementation of a “whole-of-nation” approach institutionalized as a government policy in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace.
The technical working group members of the Peace, Law Enforcement and Development Support inter-agency cluster from higher headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police (PNP), led by Army Col. Efren Morados, elaborately presented the NTF-ELCAC “national plan”.
Clement himself attended the session, along with the so-called “triad staff” of Centcom, PNP operations division chief, Col. Florante Camuyot, Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (DIPO) Visayas, Brig. Gen. Rolando Felix, representatives of the Philippine Coast Guard, and officials of different police and military units in the Visayas.
The participants discussed the task force’s plan to end insurgency in the Visayas, through an open forum, Centcom spokesperson Maj. Abel Potutan said.
“The conduct of this endeavor is also a timely development since these plans will be implemented in collaboration with the newly elected local chief executives who will soon occupy their respective positions on June 30,” Clement said.
