COTABATO CITY (May 26, 2026) — Local executives in Region 12 are certain that their provinces would soon become “insurgency free” too like Davao Del Sur in Region 11.
Local officials, leaders of different sectors and residents celebrated on Monday, May 25, the fourth anniversary of Davao del Sur’s having been cleared from presence of the New People’s Army, jointly declared as insurgency free by the police and military units in the province four years ago.
Radio reports on Tuesday stated that Gov. Yvonne Cagas and Major Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, led Monday’s celebration of the fourth anniversary of Davao del Sur’s having been totally liberated from the presence of NPAs.
Luzon, in a message while at the event at the Davao del Sur provincial capitol in Digos City, lauded the office of Ms. Cagas and the mayors under her administration for their continuing cooperation in preventing the intrusion anywhere in the province of even remnants of the NPA, whose forces in Regions 11 and 12 have dramatically dwindled in recent years.
“We have to continue preserving the peace we now have in Davao del Sur,” Luzon then said.
Two governors in Region 12, Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza of Cotabato and Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr. of South Cotabato separately told reporters on Tuesday that they are confident that their provinces shall soon be tagged by the military too as totally free from communist insurgents.
“Besides the mayors, vice mayors and barangay officials, the local Muslim, Christian and indigenous communities in Cotabato province are also helping us achieve that goal,” Taliño-Mendoza, chairperson of the multi-sector Regional Development Council 12, said.
Local executives in Cotabato and South Cotabato, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and its component-battalions in both provinces have secured, via backchannel dialogues, the surrender of 627 NPAs from across both provinces in the past five years.
All of them were jointly reintroduced to mainstream society by the offices of Taliño-Mendoza and Tamayo, the municipal and city governments under their jurisdiction, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, the 6th ID and the Department of Social Welfare and Development 12 .
“With the unrelenting anti-insurgency campaign of the 6th Infantry Division and its units, our province will soon become totally free from communist insurgents,” Tamayo said.
Tamayo, who is chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council 12, said the clearing of South Cotabato from the presence of a few remaining NPA members is being done via humanitarian interventions by the 6 th ID, the Police Regional Office 12 and local executives in the province.
“We admire how the 10th Infantry Division and all local executives in Davao del Sur have done that in their province. We are inspired by their example, which we are emulating in our province,” Tamayo said.
Photo shows provincial officials, representatives from the police and military together leading Monday’s celebration of the fourth anniversary of Davao del Sur’s having been declared free from the presence of NPAs. []
