THE Army's 53rd Infantry Battalion (IB) has commended the Municipal Police Station of Guipos, Zamboanga del Sur for fully supporting the battalion's anti-insurgency campaign.
Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera, commander of the 53IB, presented the Letter of Commendation to Police Major Robert Agda, Guipos police chief, in a simple ceremony Monday, November 2, 2020, at Camp Sabido, which houses the battalion headquarters in Guipos, Zamboanga del Sur.
Herrera said the Guipos police force has been the battalion's partner in Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) Immersions in Datagan and Dalapan villages in that municipality.
The villages of Datagan and Dalapan were the two conflict-affected areas in Guipos town. These villages were declared as "cleared" of communist New People's Army terrorists' influence after the Army's Community Support Program (CSP) in the two areas finished in 2018.
Aimed at addressing the root causes of the insurgency, RCSP is one of the government's strategies in implementing the whole-of-nation approach in attaining "inclusive and sustainable peace" in the country, Herrera said.
RCSP also facilitates the delivery of basic government services to address the issues determined during the CSP, Herrera said.
As part of the Guipos Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (MTF-ELCAC), Guipos police actively participated in the recently conducted RCSP Immersion spearheaded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Zamboanga del Sur provincial office together with the municipal government headed by Mayor Vicente Cajeta, who chairs the MTF-ELCAC.
Herrera said the great collaboration and convergence among government units is the key to achieving inclusive and sustainable peace.
Agda has thanked the 53IB for the recognition, saying that the Guipos police will continue to deliver its mandate of serving and protecting the people of the town. (VoxPop Zamboanga)