TABUK CITY, Kalinga – To further provide security to the residents of the city, the Philippine Army (PA), Philippine National Police (PNP), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the city government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide support to the PAs Mobile Community Support and Sustainment Program (MCSSP) during the recently conducted send-off ceremony at the Monday flag raising ceremony.
The aforementioned program aims to prevent or drive out the remaining communist terrorist groups (CTGs) or prevent them from entering the city, as well as to regularly monitor and reinforce government measures to ensure peace and development.
Personnel from the PNP, specifically from the 1st Kalinga Police Mobile Force Coy, would be added to the MCSSP personnel, which consisted of 4 teams of 9 soldiers each from the 54th “MAGILAS” Infantry Battalion and the 103rd “MABALASIK” Infantry Battalion.
According to LtCol. Joel Lucas, Commanding Officer 103rd IB, it is important that the government sustain the gains they achieved in previously freed barangays from CTGs in the city, particularly those isolated and disadvantaged barangays.
“The PNP and the AFP, thru the 503rd IB and the Kalinga Police Provincial Office (KPPO), and of course the security sector thru the City Peace and Order Council and the City Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict is anticipated to fully support our campaign to eradicate these terrorist groups operating in Tabuk City, and the whole of Province of Kalinga,” he said.
Further, Lucas said that the basis of their success does not rely on their individual strength alone but hinges on the cooperation between the armed forces and the security stakeholders from the city government.
“The city government will play a vital role in our collective missions and ensure that our efforts are synchronized and amplified,” he said.
Representing Acting City Mayor Dick Bal-o, Francisco “King” Gamatero said that programs such as the MCSSP are good because it gives operational control of the peace and order programs by the city government, PNP, and the PA.
Gamatero added that the program not only serves as a catalyst of change but a catalyst that performs as a better conduit to bring peace and order to the province as a whole.
Furthermore, he said that it is difficult for the AFP and PNP alone to maintain peace and order and that it requires all the citizenry to do their part.
“Peace and order is the concern of everyone. Haan laeng nga dagituy police, army but everybody, especially the civilian aspect of our community,” he said.
Force Commander of the 1st KPMFC, PLtCol John Cayat, Jr., stated that he promptly approved the collaboration upon learning that the organized team’s goal was to reevaluate areas that were officially within the jurisdiction of the CTGs.
“I hope that those barangays and municipalities that will be visited by our men, sana the LGU’s and community help us para once and for all, ma-clear na ang Kalinga of CTGs,” he said.
Cayat concluded by expressing his hope that the attainment of peace and the eradication of the CTG threats will be the legacy they leave for the next generation. By Edward Joseph Gacuya