DILG to start constructing processing centers for rebel returnees
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will start constructing more processing centers for rebel returnees, Interior Officer-in-Charge Sec. Eduardo Año said Tuesday.
Año said the construction is in preparation for the so-called localized peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF).
Such kind of negotiation, however, was already thumbed down by the communist rebels who have been waging an armed revolution in the countryside for nearly five decades.
Año said processing centers or halfway houses are temporary residences that serve as processing center for former rebels. This could be a new structure established in provinces or cities that have expressed the need for such facility.
“A halfway house will serve as a reintroduction of former rebels to society. In here, we will try to equip them through skills training,” Año said in a statement.
“Kaya napakahalaga na ang ating magiging partner LGU ay mayroong ganoong mga uri ng training,” he added.
(That is why it is important our partner LGU is important because there will be different kinds of training.)
Año said LGUs shall be allocated with financial assistance from the Enhanced-Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) for the construction of the halfway houses which will “serve as a venue in rehabilitation and healing sessions, and education and skills training activities.”
Each halfway house will be allotted P5 million which can only be accessed after complying with the procedural requirements which include a complete assessment of the provincial or highly-urbanized city government, signing of a memorandum agreement, and submission of a project proposal and supporting documents.
Nine provinces were already granted with the fund used to construct processing centers in Kalinga, Mountain Province, Masbate, Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and North Cotabato.
For the past three years, the DILG has released P59.7 million used for immediate assistance to 471 former rebels, livelihood assistance to 459, reintegration assistance to 361, and firearm remuneration to 132.
The peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDF was supposed to happen on June 28 in Oslo, Norway but did not push through after President Rodrigo Duterte canceled the negotiations. /je
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