WESCOM to focus on nation building; insurgency in Palawan, negligible

Puerto Princesa City (22 September) -- The Western Command (WESCOM) would rather focus on nation-building and community development than spend all its efforts and resources keeping its eyes on the activities of the insurgents in the province of Palawan, which are practically non-existent today.
"That is not to say that we are going to ignore the problem of insurgency in Palawan. What we are trying to say here is that the presence of the insurgents in the province has essentially become negligible that it's possible for us to focus more today on collaborating with different government agencies and private organizations in bringing development to the community," WESCOM Commander Major General Juancho M. Sabban explained.
To show that it walks the talk, the WESCOM has been busy recently bridging the gaps between the various concerned Local Government Units (LGUs) and different sectors of the community of Puerto Princesa City and Palawan by attending and participating in dialogues and forums relevant to strengthening the relationship of the armed forces with them.
It has participated in a two-day forum with the different indigenous groups in Puerto Princesa City and the City Police Office (CPO) last August 24-25 that successfully identified issues concerning the participating groups. Through the forum, the concerned agencies were able to come up with feasible solutions and means to address the issues that came up.
The WESCOM has also actively worked with the Jesus Is Lord (JIL) in organizing the Alay Lakad 2010 which was held September 5 this year. The command has acted as the over-all coordinator in the annual break-of-dawn walk-for-a-cause activity that aimed to raise fund for the benefit of the out-of-school youths.
It has also been busy coordinating with the officials of the municipality of Kalayaan with regards to plans of developing it economically and further strengthening our country's claim in the area of Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) thru peaceful means and without compromising the diplomatic relations of the Philippines with the other claimant countries.
"The WESCOM will never forget its core mandate of providing security to the province of Palawan. In fact, it has effectively performed and upheld its duties and responsibilities that the threat to the security of the province posed by the insurgent groups has become insignificant," the WESCOM commander stressed.
"The recent attacks staged by these groups particularly the NPAs, which were sporadic, incoherent and few and far in between which also failed to achieve their purposes, were nothing but desperate attempts to assert their long-gone force and their greatly diminished stature," MGen Sabban pointed out.
Having curbed the problem of insurgency that it has almost become irrelevant, MGen Sabban said that the WESCOM could now pay attention to working with the different sectors of the community in bringing concrete development to Puerto Princesa and entire Palawan without compromising the security of the city and the province. (PIA)