By Aaron Recuenco The government has created a localized task force that will deal with Communist rebels operating in CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), the first in the country since the Duterte administration cancelled the peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF). and opted for localized negotiations. CPP-NPA (MANILA BULLETIN) Brig. Gen. Edward Carranza, CALABARZON regional police office director, said the task force will be composed of various government agencies that would push for both the operation and negotiation aspects in dealing with the NPA. Named Regional Task Force To End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC), Carranza said it was the first Task Force created in the country to address armed conflict between the government and communist rebels. “The best weapon to address insurgency in the country is the implementation of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) while intensifying the interventions and campaign plans to address the elements of insurgency,” said Carranza, quoting what Interior Secretary Eduard Ano told them. The task force is composed of 21 government agency members in CALABARZON headed by the Presidential Adviser for Southern Luzon. Lt. Col. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson of the CALABARZON regional police, said several discussions were conducted during the creation of the task force, among them is the threat situation update, campaign overview and updates on Tabletop Exercise on Convergence. “Members of the Task Force share the same issues and concerns during the open forum and emphasized the need of appointing Focal Person for each government member agency; the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for Conditional Transitional Grants; and the release of Funds for the Former Rebels’ (FR) financial assistance,” said Gaoiran. Carranza said the creation of the RTF-ELCAC in CALABARZON will be replicated by other regions to create sectoral unifications were conflicts were identified. “Twelve clusters under the Regional Task Force will be formed. They will conduct series of meetings and workshops aligning in the composition of the National Task Force,” said Interior and Local Governments Secretary Eduardo Año. “This a convergence effort of everyone as we are doing this with the ‘Whole of the Government Approach. We will however make sure that the Local Government Units will take the lead to suppress the problems on insurgency in the country,” he added.