MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 3, 2012) – Presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles expressed optimism that peace can be achieved in the Philippines as the Aquino government continues to work hard to preserve the gains of the past year.
Secretary Teresita Deles said as the New Year starts, the opportunities for peace remain positive. “Let 2012 be the year for peace,” Deles told her employees during the general assembly Monday at their headquarters in Pasig City.
“The year 2011 was a rollercoaster. We were up many times and we were also down and under many times – but the solution is to always not allow ourselves to stay down,” she said.
Deles said the work of peace is not going to be easy as new challenges await peace builders both on the negotiating table and on the ground.
“In the face of trials, we will persevere because the work that we do is not just for us; it’s for the country. Maybe one of the things to be grateful for, to have experienced all of the trials and all of the challenges last year, is that we know exactly what we’re facing this year,” Deles said.
“We should be ready to be facing challenges, to be facing problems. Ang importante diyan ay yung matatag tayo (What’s important is we remain strong),” she added.
Deles also stressed the importance of partnerships. “One thing we learned last year and practiced is that peace is not just the work of OPAPP. If we thought it was just our work, we know we would not be able to do it alone. We should also be able to rely on our peace partners.”
She expressed the present administration’s continued hope for forging peace agreements early on “so that we will not leave the matter of implementation to the next administration.”
“Let 2012 be the year for peace in our hearts and in the entire country,” Deles said.
It may be recalled that late last year, government panel chair Marvic Leonen challenged the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to forge a peace agreement in the first quarter of 2012. Chief negotiator Alexander Padilla also called on the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to return to the negotiating table after months of delay in the talks.
Deles said before 2011 came to a close, the government officially launched PAMANA or Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (Peaceful and Resilient Communities) program in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and granted some P207 million as initial funding for livelihood and community projects for Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province.
The implementation of PAMANA in CAR is an offshoot of the Memorandum of Agreement signed by Manila and the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army-Cordillera Bodong Administration on July 4, 2011.
In the Visayas, the government earmarked P106-million PAMANA funds to Negros Occidental and another P32 million to Negros Oriental in support of the peace process with the Rebolusyonaryong Partidong Manggagawa ng Pilipinas-Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade and other communities affected by situations of armed conflict.
The Aquino administration also released P140 million to the local government of Camarines Norte for the construction of five road projects. The province is one of the heavily affected by communist insurgency in the Bicol region.
Shortly before 2011 ended, some P62 million was handed over to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for the construction of 2,340 shelters for families displaced by conflict and war in Maguindanao province.
As part of the administration’s affirmative action agenda for the South, about P718 million has been earmarked under PAMANA to benefit Moro National Liberation Front areas that were transformed into so-called Peace and Development Communities during the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the rebel group.
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