BUTUAN CITY – Eighty children of former New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Agusan del Norte received early Christmas gifts from the military over the weekend.
Recipients received clothing, hygiene kits, food packs, and other essentials during a gift-giving activity held at the headquarters of the Army 23rd Infantry Battalion (IB) in Barangay Alubijid, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte, on Friday, September 8.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Agusan de Norte headed by Provincial Director Ellen Vee P. Chua and 23rd IB headed by commanding officer Lt. Col. Jeffrey P. Balingao conducted the activity.
Chua said that the event with the theme “Empowering Youth: Taking a Stand Against Crime and Building Safe Communities” is also part of the children’s social healing and reconciliation process after they were abandoned by their parents when they joined the communist movement.
The activity was supported by the provincial government led by Gov. Ma. Angelica Rosedelle M. Amante.
Balingao thanked the provincial government for the periodic subsidy for these former rebels as well as for including them in the facilities being visited by the NCPW Team.
He said this gift-giving activity was a way of providing support and assistance to the children who were once affected by armed conflicts and also once abandoned when their parents were active in the NPA.