CAVINTI, Laguna – Members of the Montalban Aggregates Producers Association (MAPA) participated in the Peace and Security Forum initiated by the Rodriquez Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflictat Rodriquez Municipal Hall in Rodriquez, Rizal.
The activity aims to raise awareness among the members of the MAPA on the Communist Terrorist Group’s (CTGs) resource generation scheme and educate them on the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. The activity also intends to empower them to be productive, responsible and well-informed members of the society who will be partners in ending local communist armed conflict. Said activity was attended by 20 members of MAPA who actively participated in the activity.
The lecture on the CTG resource generation was comprehensively discussed by a former rebel who admitted being one of them when he was still in the armed group. Meanwhile, the Division Staff Judge Advocate reiterated that financing terrorism under the RA 11479 or Anti-Terrorism Law will be subjected to imprisonment and fine up to 1M pesos.
During the discussion, one of its members shared his experience as victim of the CTG’s extortion activities in Rizal. He confessed that he is giving the demands of the communist armed rebel due to fear. However, upon hearing the resource speakers, he finally decided to ignore their demand and instead cooperate with the authorities.
Hon Dennis L. Hernandez, Rodriquez Municipal Mayor and Chair of the MTF-ELCAC expressed his gratitude to the members of the MAPA for allocating their time and he urged them to continue cooperating with the authorities and support the government’s programs and initiatives for the benefits of every Filipino citizen. He also thanked the Army and the police for its commitment in bringing peace to his municipality and reminded everyone to unite in attaining peace and development in Rodriquez.
Colonel Erwin A Alea, 202nd Deputy Brigade Commander explained the objective of the activity. He lauded every member of MAPA for sharing their experiences and their sincere efforts to contribute in achieving lasting peace and development. “We are here, the members of the MTF-ELCAC for us to personally know your situation and how we can assist in addressing it. We will continue to do our respective tasks for us to end this decades-long insurgency”
Mr. Roland Angeles, President of the Montalban Aggregates Producers Association thanked the local government of Rodriquez for orchestrating the activity. “On behalf of MAPA, we are thankful for the resource speakers by discussing CTG’s step by step extortion scheme and how we can deal with it. Rest assured that we will immediately coordinate with the authorities if these things happened’.
It can be recalled that May last year, a member of the Tax Implementing Group, Sub-Regional Military 4C (SRMA)-4C, Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee (STRPC) who was responsible for the region-wide extortion activities died during the law enforcement operations in Rosario, Batangas.
