Army, OPAPRU team up to help ex-NPAs – BusinessWorld Online
COTABATO CITY — The Army’s 10th Infantry Division (ID) and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) have partnered to expand cooperation in helping former members of the New People’s Army (NPA) secure amnesty from the government to hasten their reintegration into mainstream society.
More than 500 NPAs from far-flung towns in Regions X, XI, and XIII had surrendered in batches to units of the 10th ID since 2023.
Army officials told reporters on Sunday that Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. of OPAPRU assured in a dialogue on Thursday to help connect them to government agencies that can provide them education, livelihood, and socio-economic support needed to boost their productivity.
Officials of different peace-advocacy groups also participated in the dialogue, held at the 10th ID’s headquarters in Camp General Manuel T. Yan, Sr. in Mawab, Davao de Oro.
“The government’s peace process is something that we are doing our best to implement. What we are doing now shall continue moving forward,” Mr. Galvez told participants in the dialogue, among them local executives and former NPAs who are now officials of livelihood cooperatives.
Mr. Galvez committed to help them connect former NPA guerillas to the National Amnesty Commission where they can secure safe conduct passes for them to freely move around, without fear of arrest by the police and the military, while applying for amnesty that they need for them to have normal lives after fighting the government as communist insurgents. — John Felix M. Unson
