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BALER, AURORA – Ten (10) former NPA rebels were awarded initial twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) each with a total of two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00) from the Social Integration Program (SIP) of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace Process (OPAPP) during the Aurora Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) meeting last thursday. The awarding of the initial cash assistance was spearheaded by Mr. Wary James Tayaban, representative of the OPAPP Region III and orchestrated by members of PPOC led by Hon. Bellaflor J. Angara-Castillo, Governor of Aurora and Chairperson of PPOC, COL VIC C CASTRO INF (GSC) PA, Deputy Brigade Commander of 702nd Bde and PS/SUPT ROMULO A ESTEBAN, Provincial Director of Aurora Police Station including COL ELIAS H ESCARCHA INF (GSC) PA, Commanding Officer of 48IB and other heads of Provincial Government Agencies and representatives from the private sector.
The ten (10) former NPA rebels who successfully availed the immediate assistance from the OPAPP came from the disbanded NPA groups of Sangay ng Partido sa Platun (SPP) NORTE and CENTRAL operating in the Province of Aurora. COL CASTRO said that the remnants of the NPA bandits in the Province of Aurora will surely be persuaded to return to the folds of the law because of the strong commitment and dedication of the members of the Peace and Order Council of Aurora to help the former NPA rebels. During the meeting, localized Peace Negotiations with the remnants of the NPA Bandits and creation of a Local Social Integration Committee (LSIC) to support and monitor the former rebels were discussed as part of the formulation of a comprehensive program for former NPA rebels.
GOVERNOR CASTILLO said that the biggest challenge for the Peace and Order Council is to maintain the Insurgency-Free Status of the Province wherein last February 19, 2010 during the 31st Founding Anniversary of Aurora, stakeholders from Provincial Government of Aurora and Commanders of 702nd Brigade and Aurora Police Station jointly declared that the Province of Aurora is already Insurgency-Free and presented the said declaration to her excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her visit.
Those who were awarded are Roberto Dela Cruz, Placido Campos, Gloria Lasam, Jericho Estevez, Arman Arevalo, Pinky Huego, Jestonie Vargas, Jillyboy Villaflor, Malet casamis and Maricris Payongayong.
COL ESCARCHA said that the status of Aurora as an Insurgency-Free province will be maintained if the people of Aurora will continue to make a stand against the NPA bandits and all government agencies will not lose any moment to grab every opportunity to address root causes that breeds insurgency in the Province. “ Through the PPOC, every exploitable issues will be easily addressed by the concerned agencies because a failure on the part of these agencies will possibly transformed these issues into a much bigger problem like insurgency”, COL ESCARCHA added.
