JDV unifies rival CPLA factions

BAGUIO CITY — Speaker Jose de Venecia completed on Sunday the unification of two rival factions of the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) to end years of strife in the region.

He said that with the unification of the two factions, the process of screening and integrating the CPLA’s armed regulars into the Armed Forces would now get underway.

Congress has allocated P86 million for the first phase of the integration program that would involve 264 CPLA members.

"We are witnessing the beginnings of the unification movement of the army of the Cordillera," De Venecia told more than 60 armed regulars and a dozen officers of the CPLA massed in formation at the front yard of the Speaker’s Cottage here.

De Venecia brought together Mayor Mailed Molina, supreme commander of the fully armed 1,250-strong CPLA, and rival leaders Agosto, the elder statesman representing the rebel group’s Balweg faction, and Jet Sagudang, successor to Conrado Balweg and commander of the Balweg armed group.

De Venecia clasped the hands of the three as they shook hands, joined by Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan, Baguio City Mayor Bernardo Vergara, Sergio Kawi of the Cordillera Administrative Region.