6 local governments in Mindanao declare communist rebels persona non grata
FIVE LOCAL government units (LGUs) in the Davao Region and one in SOCCSKSARGEN have declared communist rebels “persona non grata” in their respective communities in the first quarter of the year, according to the military. In January, Talaingod in Davao del Norte and the entire Compostela Valley province, both in Davao Region, issued local resolutions indicating that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), are unwelcome in their areas. The province of Davao Oriental also issued a declaration last February. In March, the local governments of Barangay San Isidro in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, and Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental followed suit. In SOCCSKSARGEN, the town of Magpet in North Cotabato made a declaration in March. In a statement on Sunday, Brigadier General Mario G. Lacurom, general officer-in-charge of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said, “These LGUs are fed up of the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) or the CPP-NPA-NDF’s atrocities done in their localities…. They can take no more of the CTG’s deception that took the lives of their constituents for useless, obsolete and irrelevant ideology.” — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras