Four former members of the rebel New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Oriental have received cash assistance for a total of P65,000 each from the government through the Comprehensive Livelihood Integrated Program (CLIP).
The rebel returnees, two females and two males whose identities are withheld for security reasons, received their individual checks at a simple ceremony Monday at the governor’s office at the Capitol in Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental.
Governor Roel Degamo led the awarding of the checks, alongside Army officials led by Lt. Col. Harold Pascua, commander of the 79th Infantry Battalion and Lt. Col. John Oliver Gabun, executive officer of the 302nd Infantry Brigade, Provincial Social Welfare Officer Alice Legarde and provincial head of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Dennis Quiñones.
As he welcomed the former rebels, Gov. Degamo thanked them for putting their trust in the government as he urged others still out in the underground movement to return to the folds of the law.
The governor emphasized that fighting for their cause through violent means is not healthy and beneficial to those belonging to the rebel movement.
According to him, the government is open to peaceful means of settling disputes as he called on the insurgents to lay down their arms and instead avail of the CLIP, an incentive given to those wanting a fresh start in their lives from the hardships in the mountains.
This is the first batch of rebel returnees in Negros Oriental this year to have received financial assistance.
Last year, 33 others were also given the same aid from the national government through the DILG.
The financial aid covers P15,000 immediate cash assistance and another P50,000 for livelihood assistance for every rebel returnee-recipient, said Provincial Social Welfare Officer Alice Legarde.
The four recipients have identical proposals of livestock raising for their livelihood projects, she said.
They have undergone proper training and will be under constant monitoring to ensure that the money they have received from the government has been put to good use, Legarde said. (PNA)
