Former rebels assist disaster relief in southern Philippines
Maria T. Reyes
Former rebels played a pivotal role in relief efforts after devastating landslides killed at least 85 people in the Davao region of the southern Philippines in February 2024.
As part of the People’s Advocacy for Collaboration and Empowerment (PeaCE), a nonprofit organization established by ex-rebels to tackle socioeconomic issues, volunteers gathered clothing, rice, drinking water and other essentials for those affected by the natural disaster. Their efforts supported multiple Philippine military units in distributing aid.
The collaborative endeavor highlights the success of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), a government initiative aimed at achieving peace by reintegrating former communist rebels and other insurgents into society, including by offering a comprehensive package of benefits and support to facilitate their transition.
E-CLIP plays an important role in efforts “to rehabilitate and reintegrate former rebel combatants, aimed at achieving the whole-of-society approach of the government,” Chester Cabalza, a security analyst and founding president of the Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation, told FORUM. The program offers ex-rebels “a second chance to serve the country.”
The disaster relief initiative is one of E-CLIP’s many achievements, according to Task Force Balik-Loob, an interagency group overseeing the reintegration of former rebels and violent extremists as part of Manila’s strategy to obtain lasting peace.
The Philippines has one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies, spanning more than five decades. According to military estimates, about 2,000 active insurgents remain.
“Records show a downward trajectory of insurgency in the country as the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] transitions to external defense and may relegate the internal security operation to public safety personnel led by the police,” Cabalza said. E-CLIP “can further lead to attaining a robust national security to proclaim that the Philippines is an insurgency-free nation after five decades of fighting communist rebels.”
Ending the insurgency also would boost economic security, he said, “as it would bring more development to rural places in remote coastal and mountainous communities that once became cradles to rebellion” as the result of factors such as poverty, historical injustices and the lack of social services.
PeaCE is among many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) collaborating with E-CLIP. In January 2024, several NGOs teamed with the nation’s Department of Labor and Employment to assist former communist rebels in Antipolo City in Rizal province.
Private sector stakeholders also can support rehabilitation efforts by offering employment opportunities, and education and vocational training programs to ex-rebels, Cabalza said.
“They can work in public-private partnership programs. Government and business sectors can employ them as part of their effective reintegration to society,” he said. “This process must be sustainable to continuously allow people-centric programs to prevail in achieving long-lasting peace and order, social cohesion, and conflict resolution.”
Maria T. Reyes is a FORUM contributor reporting from Manila, Philippines.
