Pam wants task force to end armed conflict

Governor Pamela Baricuatro has ordered the creation of the Cebu Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) aimed at strengthening peace, security, and development initiatives through a whole-of-nation approach.

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The move is formalized under Executive Order No. 61, Series of 2025, which seeks to unite provincial and national efforts to address insurgency by focusing not only on security concerns but also on governance, social services, and inclusive development.

Under the order, the PTF-ELCAC aligns local programs with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, created under Executive Order No. 70, Series of 2018, ensuring that Cebu's peace and development initiatives are synchronized with national policies.

The EO anchors its mandate on the 1987 Constitution, which renounces war as an instrument of national policy and emphasizes peace and order, protection of life and property, and the promotion of the general welfare as essential to democracy.

"The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all," a portion of the EO reads.

Baricuatro will serve as chairperson of the task force, with Vice Governor Glenn Anthony O. Soco as vice-chairperson.