Insurgency-free town has ex-NPA for mayor

LORETO, Agusan del Sur—This town is led by a mayor who is himself a former communist rebel, the significance of which was not lost on a “peace caravan” that stopped here recently as the government stepped up efforts to resolve the longest running communist insurgency in Asia.

Mayor Dario Ozata watched as 154 rebel returnees, some with their spouses and children in tow, surrendered 150 firearms when the peace caravan was brought to this town on Friday under a project aimed at bringing the government’s peace and development plan to communist-controlled areas.

The military has declared Loreto, which has a population of 50,000, once an NPA stronghold, insurgency-free.

Citing his own life and experience as an example, Ozata encouraged the former rebels to live a life without guns and make the most of government programs aimed at uplifting their lives.

Ozata, 53, joined the leftist underground movement for eight years during the Marcos dictatorship. He and his wife resurfaced in 1986.

READ: Marcos diaries: ‘Delusions of a dictator’

“We fought for democracy and when it was restored, it was time to return to the government,” he said.

In an interview, Ozata said he “never dreamed his life could turn out [so] well.”

‘Whole of nation approach’

As the Aquino administration enters its last year, the government is clearly stepping up its efforts to bring back into the fold areas under the sway or control of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

The peace caravan project, called “Serbisyo Caravan,” represents the “whole of nation approach” in the government’s national security strategy called the Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan.

Its aim is to make local governments, the military and police, and the government agencies work together to ensure that peace and development reach down to the smallest towns controlled by communist rebels to discourage people from joining the insurgency.

Its idea is that to end conflict, everyone, not just the military and the police, should work together.

A few months ago, nearly a hundred rebels surrendered and the military said they expected more to surrender next month.

Several more peace caravans are being lined up in eastern Mindanao.

Bayanihan approach

President Aquino has tasked Emmanuel Bautista, a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to oversee the implementation of Bayanihan on the ground, assisting the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp).

READ: Reds: No objection to ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ brains as PH peace panel head

Bayanihan is described as largely the brainchild of Bautista, who is now the executive director of the Cabinet cluster on peace, security and justice. He is also rumored likely to be the next chief government negotiator if the stalled peace talks with the communist leaders resume.

Bayanihan, however, was one of the reasons why negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)—and its armed group the NPA and political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF)—were suspended as the communists demanded that its implementation be stopped.

The communists argued that Bayanihan was simply another counterinsurgency program that makes the people vulnerable to alleged military atrocities.

But the government describes Bayanihan as an approach not just to end conflict but to promote human security as well, where people can live and work in a place devoid of war.

Most difficult peace talks

Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, the presidential adviser on the peace process, said that while “negotiations is a national policy, when there is an internal armed conflict,” the government cannot also ignore the immediate needs of its citizens.

“Certainly, there is a need for talks on the peace table but the immediate needs of the communities on the ground will also have to be addressed. In fact, what we have been saying is a negotiated political settlement as the outcome of a peace process is always for the people,” Deles said.

The peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA-NDF is considered the most difficult and complicated of all five “peace tables” the government is confronting.

READ: Aquino peace adviser slams NPA’s ‘pointless violence’ / Palace: ‘Many possibilities’ in gov’t-CPP talks

Services provided

In Loreto on Friday, Bautista told the crowd at the peace caravan that under Bayanihan, “no one will be left behind” as the country develops and progresses.

The military itself credits the Bayanihan for the surrender of the NPA rebels in Loreto as the municipal and provincial government along with the regional offices of the national government agencies have become more accessible to the people.

At the caravan here, some 3,000 Loreto residents, unmindful of the searing heat, went from tent to tent to avail themselves of services provided by various government agencies.

The Department of Health offered free circumcision, immunization for children, as well as a lecture for pregnant mothers on maternal healthcare, among other topics.

Representatives from the provincial government talked with senior citizens and out-of-school youths. The Department of Agriculture distributed rubber seedlings, banana planting materials, and upland rice seeds.

Educational kits

The queue was longest at the tent where parents and children were being given educational kits in pink and blue backpacks with stickers of Opapp’s Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (Pamana) or Peaceful and Resilient Communities program.

READ: COA to Opapp: Where did P1.14B go?

A local Rotary Club group, representing the private sector, also distributed educational kits.

The challenge to the government now is how to sustain the “whole of nation approach,” especially with only a year left of the Aquino administration.

Bautista and Deles said they aspired for the continuity of services.

Deles said it was up to the people to tell their new leaders what programs they wanted the government to continue even after the Aquino administration.