BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Negros Occidental is in a state of stable internal peace and security (SIPS).
The provincial joint peace and security coordinating council composed of the Army, Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Coast Guard made the recommendation for the SIPS declaration during a meeting held at Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. in this city yesterday.
“We have achieved a very important milestone in our quest for attaining peace in Negros Occidental,” Col. Victor Llapitan, deputy commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IB), said.
Provinces declared in a state of SIPS are considered cleared and unaffected by communist insurgents and relatively peaceful, Maj. Mervin Rosal, 303rd IB civil-military operations chief, said.
Rosal said this means the local government unit and PNP acknowledge that only law enforcement operations are needed – an indication that the province is ”normalized.”
The joint declaration will be forwarded to the Negros Occidental Provincial Peace and Order Council and Western Visayas Regional Peace and Order Council for concurrence.
Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Visayas Command chief, clarified that declaring a state of SIPS does not mean an area is insurgency-free since remnants of communist groups will be the subject of relentless and focused military operations.
Arevalo said the military is bent on preventing the resurgence of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (NPA) in communities cleared of communist insurgents.
Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said there are still 33 NPA guerrillas with 49 firearms in Negros Occidental, from a peak of 258 in 2019.
The military said it had dismantled five NPA guerrilla fronts in Negros.