The Department of National Defense (DND) said Friday, March 17, that it will enhance its collaboration with partner agencies to dismantle private armed groups (PAGs) amid recent attacks on local government officials.
DND Officer in Charge (OIC) Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. met with officials from the National Task Force for the Disbandment of Private Armed Groups (NTF-DPAGs) in Kidapawan City, Cotabato last Wednesday, March 15, to relay the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) to act on the spate of violence targeting local elected officials.
“More than ever, the fulfillment of our mandate is now made more urgent with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ‘dismantle private armies and identify hotspots where local officials are being attacked,’” Galvez said.
The NTF-DPAGs was created in 2015 through Memorandum Circular No. 83 released by the Office of the President (OP) to de-fang PAGs in the Bangsamoro region following the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2014.
While the task force is currently concentrated in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the government is eyeing to expand its coverage to other areas where there is a “prevalent” presence of PAGs as determined by the AFP and PNP, said NTF-DPAGs Chairperson and Interior Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr.
As of 2022, the NTF-DPAGs said it monitored 22 active and 133 suspected private armed groups operating in the country.
Galvez said that the issue on PAGs was brought to fore amid the consecutive attacks on elected officials. The latest of such attacks was the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo last March 4.
Galvez assured the public that the DND and AFP, along with the PNP, “remain committed” to their mandate of eliminating “peace spoilers” to ensure that the people “can live free of violence and fear.”