Palanan celebrates rebel-free declaration

PALANAN, a coastal town in Isabela facing the Pacific Ocean, is now officially rebel-free.

By virtue of the Joint Resolution Number 01-series 2024, the town has been formally declared “Insurgency-Free and in a State of Stable Internal Peace and Security” during rites at the Municipal Gymnasium on Thursday.

Two of Isabela’s four coastal towns Maconacon and Divilacan will also be officially declared rebel-free on Friday with the fourth town, Dinapigue, soon follow suit.

The declaration in Palanan was made following a resolution unanimously approved by the Palanan Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) and Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (MTF-ELCAC).

“It has been more than a year of no monitored work or rebel activity in the town,” Army Major Rigor Pamittan, spokesman of the Isabela-based 5th Infantry Division, said in approval of the assessment of the MTF-ELCAC and MPOC that Palanan deserved the rebel-free tag.

But Mr. Pamittan recalled how Palanan played a vital role in the expansion of the communist movement not only in the province but in the entire country. He cited the docking of MV Karagatan on July 4, 1972 on Palanan’s shore carrying thousands of smuggled weapons and war material from China.

Had that shipment not been intercepted, the history of the country could have been altered, he said.

The MV Karagatan fiasco was one of the incidents that sparked the declaration of martial law on Sept. 21, 1972.

“Now that it is free from the meddling of the CPP-NPA, the local government and partner stakeholders believe that the declaration is a door to open innumerable opportunities to attract more investors and tourists to the town, which paves the way for more jobs and economic opportunities for the people,” said Mr. Pamittan.

Palanan Mayor Angelo Bernardo was joined by Major General Audrey Pasia, 5th Infantry Division commander; National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Region 2 Director Plormelinda Olet; Brigadier General Eugene Mata, 502nd Infantry Brigade commander, and other officials at the formal declaration rites. — Artemio A. Dumlao