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The Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit,https://militiasdb.sowi.uni-mannheim.de/militias-public/pgag/148/evidence/ variously called Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit, Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit and commonly referred to by its
acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...
CAFGU (pronounced "kahf-goo") is an irregular
auxiliary Auxiliary may refer to: In language * Auxiliary language (disambiguation) * Auxiliary verb In military and law enforcement * Auxiliary police * Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of some kind to a military se ...
force of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) () are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Philippine Army, Army, the Philippine Air Force, Air Force, and the Philippine Navy, Navy (including the P ...
focusing on anti-insurgency efforts in the countryside. As of 2022, an estimated 69,938 CAFGU troopers are active in the country, taking part in military operations alongside regular soldiers of the AFP.


History

The CAFGU was created on July 25, 1987, when
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Corazon C. Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from 1986 to 1992. She was ...
signed Executive Order No. 264 entitled "Providing for the Citizen Armed Force". The creation of the unit was based on the "clear, consolidate, hold and develop" strategy adopted by then-Defense Secretary
Fidel V. Ramos Fidel Valdez Ramos (; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military officer to reached ...
in dealing with insurgent-infiltrated villages. CAFGU units are components of the AFP Ready Reserve detailed to Military Auxiliary Service. Article X, Sec. 61, sub-paragraph 2 of Republic Act 7077 describes this manner of service as follows:
Military auxiliary service entails services rendered in meeting local insurgency threat. Reservists serving under this category will be organized into Ready Reserve units. They must be issued and allowed to carry firearms: Provided, That these reservists will be utilized only for the defense of their respective localities and will not be employed outside their localities. Elected/appointed local government officials are expected to perform their duties and responsibilities in their respective peace and order council levels or similar organizations efficiently and effectively to enhance a total integrated system approach against threats to national security. The Secretary of National Defense shall prescribe the rules and regulations to implement this section in coordination with the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government.
In 2020, President
Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...
established a comprehensive social benefits program for CAFGU members, alongside the military and the police, who are killed in the performance of their duties.


Human Rights abuse record

In 1993, the Philippine government considered deactivating the CAFGU units due to allegations of
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
abuses; 60 CAFGU units comprising 10,000 troops were disbanded. However, in 1996, the government halted its program to completely disband the CAFGU units. The
Commission on Human Rights A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...
' records show that as of 2000, 853 human rights abuse cases have been filed against 1,070 CAFGU members.


Organization

CAFGU units are administered by, and under the operational control of, regular units of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) () are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Philippine Army, Army, the Philippine Air Force, Air Force, and the Philippine Navy, Navy (including the P ...
.https://guidance.miningwithprinciples.com/case_study/conducting-due-diligence-on-government-backed-militia/ Philippine Army infantry battalions assigned to this function are also referred to as "Cadre Battalions". Deactivation of CAFGU units assigned to these battalions result in the return of their status as regular infantry battalions. The CAFGU units are tasked to prevent the re-infiltration of insurgents into communities that have already been cleared of their influence by combat operations conducted by regular units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The CAFGU units are issued
small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...
; typically U.S. sourced M-14, or M-16 type rifles, and receive a monthly stipend of
Php PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP Group. ...
4,500.00 (about US$92.43).


See also

*
Integrated Civilian Home Defense Forces The Integrated Civilian Home Defense Forces, also called the Civilian Home Defense Force and commonly referred to by its acronym CHDF, was an Irregular military, irregular paramilitary force supervised and deployed by the heads of the local governme ...
* Civilian Irregular Defense Group


Further reading

* The Philippine Army Public Affairs Office, ''The Philippine Army: First 100 Years'', 1997, OTAPA. * The Special Forces School, ''Philippine Army Special Forces Operations Manual PAM 3-071'', 2008, SFR(A). * Pobre, Cesar P. (2006). ''History of the Armed Forces of the Filipino People''. New Day Publishers..


References

{{reflist Reserve and Auxiliary Units of the Philippine Military Establishments by Philippine executive order