BACOLOD City – Around 579 members of the Kapatiran para sa Progresibong Panlipunan Inc. (Kapatiran) have received P50,000 each as livelihood assistance from the national government during a ceremony in Talisay City, Negros Occidental on Friday.
As part of the former rebels’ socio-economic reintegration, the Livelihood Settlement Grants provide each profiled member P50,000 to support the establishment and continuity of one’s livelihood.
Colonel Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade, said the release of the livelihood assistance to the former rebels clearly manifests the government’s commitment to fulfill its peace agreement with the group.
“Our government aims to give a better life for the members of the Kapatiran,” he added.
The recipients are former combatants of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPM-P/RPA/ABB) under the Tabara-Paduano Group (TPG) based in Negros Occidental and Panay Island, which is finalizing the closure of its peace agreement with the government.
Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. said the national government has plans and programs for the organization after going through a long and difficult journey toward peace.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) released a total of P30.65 million in livelihood grants – of which P24.85 million went to 463 recipients from Negros Occidental, and P5.8 million for the 116 members from the Panay Island.
During their decommissioning in Capiz last September, the former combatants also received immediate cash assistance of P25,000 each.
In Feb. 1996, breakaway members of the New People’s Army (NPA) Negros Regional Party formed the RPM-P, and in April, the group announced the formation of the RPA as its military arm. The following year, the Nilo dela Cruz-led ABB joined forces with the RPA.
The RPM-P/RPA-ABB, which signed a peace agreement with the government on Dec. 6, 2000, split into two – the TPG led by Veronica Tabara and Stephen Paduano, and the Nilo dela Cruz Group. Only the TPG continued the process of finalizing a draft closure agreement with the government.
Paduano, former national commander of the RPA-ABB and now a representative of Abang Lingkod Party-list, urged the Kapatiran members to sustain the gains of the peace process.
The RPM-P/RPA-ABB TPG took on the name Kapatiran para sa Progresibong Panlipunan Inc. as part of its institutional transformation.
“It took us 23 years, and today is the first phase of the livelihood assistance of the government. We cannot afford to lose this opportunity to show the world that indeed, we can achieve lasting peace in the country,” Paduano said in a statement released by the OPPAP.
He was joined by Tabara, who chairs the Kapatiran, in witnessing the distribution of the livelihood grants with Galvez, Social Welfare undersecretary Rene Glen Paje and Defense undersecretary Cesar Yano.(With a report from PNA/PN)
