NICA conducts over 1K peace-building drives among vulnerable sectors in Caraga
By Renelle L. Escuadro
BUTUAN CITY (PIA) — Contributing to the significant weakening of armed insurgency in the Caraga region, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Caraga conducted a total of 1,608 peace-building and educational awareness campaigns, with 42,760 participants from the vulnerable sectors across the region in 2025.
In its annual accomplishment report presented to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on January 22, NICA Caraga, as the lead agency of the Situational Awareness and Knowledge Management (SAKM) Cluster of the Caraga RTF-ELCAC, shared that 727 orientations were made to the youth and student sector with 29,541 attendees who gained understanding on the recruitment tactics of the communist terrorist groups (CTG).
Also, at least 2,222 parents and teachers participated in the 161 orientation forums. Another 497 awareness campaigns were conducted in grassroots communities, involving 7,103 participants and engaging a total of 3,664 public servants across 182 orientations.
Accordingly, NICA’s information campaigns included discussions on Executive Order No. 70, seminars on “knowing the enemy,” anti-communist propaganda, among others.
NICA Caraga Director Bonifacio R. Pulgo said, “The agency plays a pivotal role in strengthening the peace and development agenda of the government. The objective of our campaigns is to educate the vulnerable sectors on the dangers of the CTG.”
“To protect the vulnerable sectors is to empower them with accurate and timely information,” Director Pulgo added. “Our efforts are focused on changing the mindset and public perception of the vulnerable sectors by countering the influence, recruitment, and deceitful narratives of the insurgent groups in the region.”
Meanwhile, the SAKM Cluster has the following members namely, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), all committed to sustaining the gains of the peace efforts of the government. (RLE, PIA Dinagat Islands)
