LAST weekend, we drove to Bondoc Peninsula and Bicol to get the pulse of the people about a lot of things but mainly about the conduct of local politics, local governance, and the role that remnants of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) can still play, especially in the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. Quezon and Bicol are close to my heart because Quezon is where my headquarters was when I was commander of the Southern Luzon Command, and Bicol is my region of birth.

Seven months after I retired, I can now say that the influence of the NPA terrorists is nil, practically absent in many of these isolated areas. This is thanks to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) and the support of the local government which chose to stand with us, especially in resisting the pressure of the senators who tried to defund the NTF-Elcac and cancel the Barangay Development Program (BDP). It was a good fight, but now we know who these legislators are who reduced the BDP budget down from P26 billion to only P6 billion. This is important because many of them are running for national office and the time for reckoning is coming.