LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The province of Pangasinan under the leadership of Governor Amado I. Espino, III will soon be declared by the Philippine Army as ‘insurgency-free’.
The Philippine Army reported the current threat situation and insurgency parameters they are undertaking, noting that they are planning to declare Pangasinan as ‘insurgency-free’ during the joint meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (POC) and Pangasinan Anti-Drug Council (PADAC) held at the Pangasinan Training and Development Center on December 14.
“One of our targets is to work on for the declaration as ‘insurgency-free’ of the province of Pangasinan at inaayos na naming ang mga papers,” Colonel Henry A Robinson. Jr. of the 702nd Infantry (Defender) Brigade disclosed.
Col. Robinson further stated that the 702nd brigade is exerting all efforts to have the provincial government of Pangasinan declare the province as peaceful and insurgency-free.
The province was first declared as insurgency-free in 2010 under the leadership of then Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr.
According to the reports of the Phil. Army, they are now confronting another group of communist terrorist named Nueva Ecija-Pangasinan Commission composed of two groups – KLG Caraballo and LGP 1.
KLG Caraballo is said to be operating in eastern Pangasinan, specifically in the municipality of Umingan, San Quintin, Natividad and San Nicolas while LGP 1 covers municipalities in Nueva Ecija.
Accordingly, the Phil. Army is conducting insurgency parameters which resulted to the recession of KLG Caraballo capability after killing 9 rebels and loss of 12 HPFAs and as to ensure that Pangasinan will remain free from any rebel threat.
It can be recalled that an armed encounter transpired in San Nicolas in July this year where elite forces of the Philippine National Police (PNP) clashed with suspected group of National People’s Army (NPA).
Consequently, Pangasinan PPO in partnership with PDEA will declare the province of Pangasinan as ‘drug-free’ by yearend.
“Hopefully by yearend, we will declare the whole province as drug-free. We can say that 99% of the drug-affected barangays are now cleared and many are under validation of PDEA,” Pangasinan PPO Provincial Director PSSupt. Ronal Lee stated.
Based on their reports, out of 1271 drug-affected barangays in Pangasinan, 1269 have been cleared while 2 are still undergoing drug-clearing operations.
By Dexter A. See
