By Romy Teruel
Bohol Sunday Post
The success of a peace effort is as much a responsibility of the community as it is that of the government and its agencies. A community that openly and actively supports any peace-building project is a community that is most likely on the way to prosperity. Conversely, a negating or even just a reluctant community to give its cooperation to a peace building project will most likely experience unstable community life.
This is my advocacy to the residents of Brgy. Remedios, Danao the proposed site of a 50-hectare resettlement area for 18 former rebels who have come back to the folds of the law and vowed never to be deceived again to topple a duly constituted government and replace it with a communist government espousing an ideology that has lost its popularity worldwide.
This resettlement project is a special project of the provincial government to provide former rebels with a life they thought they would get by joining the CPP-NPA but never come close to it. On the contrary their life with the communist movement was only filled with suffering and difficulty. Not only that. It broke their family and this is now what government is trying to piece together as soon as they decided to return to the folds of the law and join mainstream society.
The government cannot go on in its campaign for genuine peace on lip service. It has to show that its heart and mouth are found in their right places. This is why Bohol has been successful in its peace and development efforts because it practices what it preaches. It has shown the Boholanos, especially those who have been misled, that it is trying to truly address the issues and concerns that drove many of the people to join the local communist movement in fighting to topple the duly constituted democratic government.
Alone the government cannot succeed in its peace and development efforts. The community must support these efforts if we want to see them succeed. In this resettlement case the support can come in the form of their consent and cooperation so that the project can be implemented.
It is normal to have apprehensions about the project. After all the people to be resettled used to carry firearms and did not have any qualms to use force and intimidation to get what they wanted. But these are reformed individuals now whose only wish and desire is to be with their family and live normal lives.
In deciding to give their consent the residents of Brgy. Remedios can draw from the experience of the people of Brgy Tuburan, Ubay where the first resettlement project for rebel returnees is located. There were problems encountered in the establishment of the Tuburan resettlement but none of these were different from any problem a regular community of people has.
The project has long been conceptualized and the blueprints drawn but it is the lack of a suitable place that kept it in the drawing board. Gawad Kalinga Foundation has agreed to construct the houses of the returnees. Palm Oil Inc. has agreed to assist them with their livelihood. The provincial government through the PPOC has agreed to construct the access road and organize them into a cooperative (in fact they are now registered with the Cooperatives Development Authority). While DENR would look for the suitable location.
DENR has found a place in the timberland area of Magsaysay, Talibon but the area had informal dwellers. Besides it is quite far from the nearest road. It is only the area in Remedios, Danao that appeared the perfect place to resettle the group.
Last Friday the local government of Danao conducted a consultation assembly with the residents of Danao to find out their sentiments on the proposed project. CENRO Protacio Urog and Forester Ven Taer attended the assembly for the DENR. Attendees from the provincial government were Provincial Social Welfare Officer Inday Tunacao and her staff and this columnist who is also a member of the Provincial Peace and Order Council. Vice Mayor Joe Cepedoza, and Kagawads Colico and Cenabre represented the local government of Danao.
The result of the consultation was not conclusive as there were those who were in favor of the project and there were also some who registered their objection.
It will therefore be in order for the residents of Brgy. Remedios to put in writing their sentiments on the project so that these can be discussed and addressed by a committee of the PPOC.
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