Halfway house in South Cotabato ready to accept ex-rebels

From left: Tantangan Mayor Benjamin Figeroa, DILG South Cotabato Director Rochelle Sero, 6ID Commander Diosdado Carreon and Executive Assistant to the Governor Rudy Jimenea. Members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan were also present during the inauguration of the P5-M halfway house for former rebels. (PIA, MINDANAO EXPOSE')  

 KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato --- This provincial government is now ready to accept former rebels (FRs) in its facility in Tinongcop, Tantangan specifically intended for those who return to the fold of law. 

On Tuesday, August 18, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) 12 turned over to South Cotabato Provincial Government the P5-million halfway house for FRs constructed in one of the properties of the provincial government in Barangay Tinongcop.

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Rochelle Sero, provincial DILG director, said the provision of a halfway house for FRs is a component of the national government-led initiative Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) that promotes just and lasting peace, national reconciliation, and unity.

“The halfway house serves as a temporary shelter for FRs while their accepting unit, such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police, secure their birth certificates, process their registration in PhilHealth, and other documents for their eventual reintegration to the mainstream society 

“Here they also receive interventions such as deradicalization, social healing and reconciliation, spiritual and moral enhancement, and health and wellness program as well as livelihood trainings,” Sero said.

The operationalization of the halfway house, she added, addresses the long prevailing problem regarding the accommodation of former rebels while they are being prepared for community reintegration. Before this, FRs stayed in facilities designated by the AFP and PNP.

Haide Agustin, head of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, said South Cotabato’s halfway house can accommodate at least 50 individuals.

It has separate dormitory-type rooms for female and male residents, five conjugal accommodations, a conference/training hall, mess hall, kitchen, and staff quarter.

Agustin explained that while the center can already accept FRs, additional construction jobs such as floor tiling and painting will be carried out soon to improve the facility through funding from the provincial government.

Rudy Jimenea,  who represented Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. in the event, told the former rebels attending the inauguration ceremony that the halfway house as well as different programs of Gov. Tamayo for free education, free hospitalization and other pro-poor interventions as well as the assistance given to FRs are enough reasons for people to trust the government and return to the fold of law.

Close to a hundred FRs joined the inauguration of the halfway house. Five of them received P65,000 financial aid from the DILG. 

In his message at the ceremony, Major General Diosdado Carreon described E-CLIP and the establishment of a halfway house as a ‘noteworthy endeavor.”

“Finally, we have seen a comprehensive program that could put an end to the long-drawn communist insurgency in the country,” MGen. Carreon said, which he described is “one of the longest running insurgencies in the world.”

Unlike in the past when it seemed that the counterinsurgency program was solely the responsibility of the AFP, this time it’s a whole-of-the-nation approach where all government agencies work together to fight communism, he added.

Construction of the South Cotabato halfway house, started in February, 2019. (DED/PIA 12, MINDANAO EXPOSE')