Manila, June 17 -- A ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said on Wednesday that the declaration placing Southern Tagalog (also known as Calabarzon) under "Stable Internal Peace and Security" (SIPS) is a clear sign that the people in the region have rejected the ideals of the communist insurgents.

"Peace works. Development works. Democracy works," NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said in a statement.

He also called the SIPS declaration for Southern Tagalog on June 12 a historic rejection of Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) violence by one of the insurgents' biggest former strongholds.

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