Six former rebels received P65,000 financial assistance each under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), a flagship program of the Duterte administration’s peace and order agenda, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Aurora province.
DILG-Aurora Provincial Director Ofelio A. Tactac , Jr. said poverty and ignorance are major reasons why people join communist rebel groups.
“Ginagawa po ng pamahalaan ang lahat ngunit wala pong perpektong gobyerno. Gayunpaman, hindi digmaan ang solusyon dito. Maraming pamilya na ang sinira ng digmaan. Walang batang napagtapos ang digmaan. Maraming pangarap na ang sinira ng digmaan (The government is doing its best to but there is no perfect government. But, war is not a solution to this. War has destroyed lots of families. No child has finished school in war. Lots of dreams were unfulfilled by the war),’’ Tactac said.
Addressing the former rebels, Tactac said that the government has given them a new lease in life to take the righteous path in providing for their families through hard work and perseverance.
The former rebels were granted immediate assistance of P15,000 and livelihood assistance of P50,000 among many other benefits specified in the E-CLIP implementing guidelines.
Tactac said “that the national program E-CLIP, being locally-driven, managed, and implemented, veers away from the past practice of pre-packaged interventions designed at the national level. It responds to the circumstances, needs, and concerns of former rebels through the provision of assistance and seeks to consider their basic rights and situations as men and women.’’
“E-CLIP is a flagship program of President Duterte’s administration that aims to help members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), and Militia ng Bayan (MB) to restore allegiance to the Philippine government,’’ the DILG-Aurora said. (Chito A. Chavez)