PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar yesterday welcomed a noble idea of Cordillera law enforcement authorities and the Regional Peace and Order Council to come up with their own version of the PNP’s Oplan: Tokhang to help the government finally put an end to the more than five-decades old communist insurgency.

The top cop thanked the Cordillera RPOC and Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee for approving their own Oplan: Tokhang which is short for the Visayan words ‘Toktok’ and Hangyo (plea), but this time to be known as Dumanun Makituntung’ which are Ilocano words for ‘visit and discuss.’

Gen. Eleazar said that the ‘Dumanun Makituntung’ will form part of the ‘whole-of-nation-approach’ to address the armed communist insurgency in the region which has caused the deaths of hundreds of people including soldiers, policemen, NPA rebels and innocent civilians since the 70s.

“The Philippine National Police appreciates the effort of the Cordillera Regional Peace and Order Council in coming up with new ideas to finally put an end to the more than five decades-long communist insurgency problem in the country,’ he said.

“On the part of the PNP, we will provide assistance in a way that will strike a balance between our collective goal of defeating the CPP-NPA-NDF and our commitment to respect and uphold the basic human rights of every Filipino,” Gen. Eleazar added.

The PNP chief has already instructed Cordillera police director, Brigadier Gen. Ronald O. Lee to coordinate with the Cordillera RPOC regarding the matter.

“In fighting communist insurgency in the country, we in the PNP believe that we have to present better ideas that focus on winning back the trust and confidence of those who fell prey to this failed ideology.

And we have been doing so through our aggressive support on information dissemination, community mobilization through police-community relations, and barangay development Program,” Gen. Eleazar explained.

The plan has been met with criticisms by activists and other progressive groups known for their association with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front and the NPA which is their armed wing.

The Cordillera Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee agreed to field teams from the local police who will be joined by members of different civic and religious groups as well as barangay leaders in visiting homes in the region to talk people into helping the government put an end to the communist problem basically by not supporting the rebels.

The visiting teams are under orders to observe utmost courtesy and respect for human rights each time they visit the house of a personality known for having links with the underground movement or are actually members of their legal fronts.

The RLECC-CAR recently signed a resolution enjoining members of law enforcement agencies and representatives of local government units, religious sectors and non-governmental units to conduct the ‘Dumanun Makituntung’ strategy to known members of so-called Communist Front Organizations in the region.

The strategy involves a visit to houses of known members of CFOs in the region and to plea on them to stop dealing with or supporting the CPP/NPA/NDF.

The ‘house-to-house’ visit and talk with known CFO members in Cordillera will be conducted by a composite team from the local police, the LGU and representatives from religious sectors and NGOs.

Those to be visited are personalities known for their association with the underground movement. However, those visits should be fist coordinated with local barangay officials.

Participants to the project are also required to observe utmost courtesy and fully respect human rights each time they visit a CFO member. In the event a known CFO personality express his willingness to withdraw support to the CPP/NDF/NPA movement, his relatives will be asked to bring him to local police station for documentation and proper disposition.

Members of the RLECC led by Brig. Gen. Lee and officials from the local National Bureau of Investigation, Departments of Health, Labor and Employment, Justice, Interior and Local Government, Public Works and Highways, Education, Transportation and Agriculture as well as the Cordillera National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Commission on Human Rights, National Police Commission and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology signed the resolution which was forwarded to the Cordillera RPOC for concurrence and adoption by all governors and mayors in the region.