Gov Yap leads village 

in denouncing NPAs 

CAMIAS, CALAPE, Bohol, Nov. 27 (PIA) -- In no uncertain terms, Bohol Governor Arthur Yap denounced the communist terrorist groups that have threatened the peace and development of 19 barangays in 6 towns of Bohol, as he enjoined residents here to get involved in the efforts to lay the foundations for peace to thrive. 

Speaking before the community attending the Dagyawan sa Barangay in Camias Calape, some 4 kilometers from the town center, but poised way up in the Maribojoc mountain ranges, the governor said he has to visit these remote barangays to lead in bringing government services here. 

Identified as among the 19 barangays which were affected by and influenced by groups advocating armed struggle, Camias as well as its neighboring barangays of Loon, Antequera and Calape have been hosts to armed insurgents who capitalize on poor road networks and distant government services to instigate locals into joining the armed struggle. 

The armed insurgents simply slip into the forests, cross town borders in established trails and emerge in other hospitable mountain villages to slip patrolling government troops. 

Populated largely by farmers, weavers and families who simply subsist in harvesting resources from the forest, the barangay residents used to have problems of bringing their products to the markets, as the bad roads degrade the quality of their fresh harvest arriving in the markets bruised or wilted by the inconvenient travel. 

For the people here, the governor announced the government's P24 million ongoing Camias-Sohoton road which would be a crucial access road for farm products here to the markets along the highway. 

Another critical road project here is the P10 million Canguha to Sampoangon, which would open up smoother access to these mountain barangays, the governor said. 

But with armed groups using the remote and inaccessible mountains as their lairs, a major road infrastructure project would carve a government-rated road access from the highway in Desamparados near the town center to join the already established highway in Ubujan high up in the mountains of Antequera. 

The governor remarked that the project, to be funded under the World Bank Philippine Road Development Project would cost some P450 million and its construction would include 6 bridges to assure fast and comfortable travel. 

Hyping on the infrastructure that would largely respond to the peace and order issues shared by the barangays straddling the ridges of the Maribojoc mountains, the governor however reminded the community. 

“No matter what we do, or how we put up development, we will never succeed when we have these people among us,” the governor meant communist terrorist groups that have once reined in these mountain lairs. 

Now freed from the choke of the insurgents who instilled fear among the locals to command respect. The residents here have also openly denounced the rebel movement by unveiling a huge tarpaulin which they will accordingly install in the village’s barangay hall. 

No less that the governor as well as the internal security operatives excitedly hailed the local officials led by Chairman Christopher Sesiban who posed with the denunciation statement that also called for a unified stand against the terrorist New People’s Army, and for peace and order to reign. 

“Everyone must be involved, we can not just be watchers, or we can not be gripped with fear again, because whatever happens anywhere in Bohol, we will also be affected,” the governor urged. 

At the same Dagyawan sa Barangay, the Department of Interior and Local Government gathered the barangay officials and their sectoral representatives to revisit the local vision and mission as well as to get them into planning for priority projects that would largely impact on the community’s development. 

Dagyawan, or pagbabayanihan, has also relaunched the Retooled Community Support Program which used to the army’s top anti-insurgency community relations program for development. 

But with the military solution failing due to the army’s limited resources, the option to convergence surfaced with the very positive development in peace-efforts pioneered and piloted in Bohol leading to its declaration s insurgency-free in 2010, the RCSP, which features multi-sectoral convergence is now a Dagyawan major feature. 

The governor also administered the oaths of offices of the Calape Municipal Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict, headed by its chairman, Dr. Nelson Yu. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol) 

CEMENTING CONVERGENCE STRATEGY. Gov. Arthur Yap administered the swearing into office the Calape Municipal Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict and setting into place a local team that would focus on poring at local issues and problems that the local government can act upon, to hasten the development of these areas. The government has also put up funds to cement strategic access roads to these remote areas for faster delivery of government services. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol) 

OTHER THAN CRITICAL ROAD LINKS. The government has also put up livelihood projects in support of the communities to trigger economic activities in other areas. From announcing the key infrastructure in mountaintops of Calape, the governor along with Calape Mayor Nelson Yu, also handed seaweeds projects to residents in the town's island barangays through its organization president. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)