Nine former members of the New People's Army (NPA) in Las Navas, Northern Samar have chosen to lay down their arms and begin a new chapter in their lives, marking another milestone in the government's peace and reintegration efforts under the whole-of-nation approach. The former rebels were formally presented before the Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (MTF-ELCAC) of Las Navas on July 10, where they also surrendered several firearms as a gesture

In his speech at the Katungod Conference on July 15 at the University of the Philippines at Diliman, he declared that the AFP is a "threat to democracy and national security." That conclusion is too sweeping. And his treatment of the Talaingod 13 is also too politically convenient, if not downright lazy.