473 RPA-ABB members get livelihood assistance

By: Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – A total of 473 members of Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas / Revolutionary Proletarian Army / Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPM-P/RPA/ABB) now called “Kapatiran” received their livelihood assistance from the national government through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) yesterday.

Secretary Carlito Galves Jr., OPAPP’s peace adviser on peace reconciliation and unity led the distribution of livelihood assistance at Natures Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.

The RPM-P/RPA/ABB is a breakaway group of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in the late 90s.

As part of the government’s commitment to provide provision for socio-economic interventions for the said group, the RPM-P/RPA/ABB has signed a peace agreement with the government to include Livelihood Settlement Grants (LSG), in which each profiled member of “Kapatiran” will receive P50,000 to support their group and continuity of their livelihood.

Colonel Inocencio Pasaporte, Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde) commander, said in his message that “it is a clear manifestation that our government is sincere in its commitment to the peace agreement to this group.”

Our government simply aims to alleviate the lives of the members in order for them to have a better life in the mainstream society, he added.