Stepped-up anti-insurgency campaign not purely a military approach

By BONG PEDALINO, (PIA Southern Leyte)
July 4, 2006

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte – The special fund that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced recently in Isabela which was set aside to defeat the decades-old insurgency problem in the country, solving it using the money in two year’s time, was not an all-out war viewed from a purely military perspective, a senior Cabinet official revealed here July 1.

Secretary Gabriel Claudio, the Presidential Assistant for Political Affairs, explained that a good part of the P1 Billion allocation "will be used for projects intended for the socio-economic upliftment of the poor in the countryside, from whom the armed wing of the communist movement – the New People’s Army -- oftentimes finds protection, support, and comfort."

"The P1 Billion fund will not go wholly to the buying of arms, ammunition, and military equipment. As I have said, a good component of it will go to infrastructure and social development projects to improve the plight of the impoverished in the countryside thereby addressing the root causes of rebellion itself," Claudio said in a speech at the provincial Capitol grounds, this city, marking the 46th founding anniversary celebration of the province where he was the keynote speaker.

He took potshots at the President’s detractors, calling their reaction on the renewed anti-insurgency drive to wipe out communist terrorists "alarmist, false, and deceitful propaganda."

The opposition and several militant groups had charged that the money will just be used to further decimate the ranks of activist leaders in what has been described as an eerie "murder fund" of some kind, but this was flatly denied by top military officers and civilian officials.

At the press conference in the Governor’s office following the anniversary luncheon, Claudio reiterated that the solution to the lingering insurgency was a two-fold approach.

One was the military way, which was no less than the enforcement of existing laws of the land.

"Another was based on providing enough opportunities for economic enterprise" by seeing to it that the overall peace and order situation in the country was stable and secure, Claudio emphasized.