PEACE DIALOGUE. Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Eufemia Cullamat is set to lead a dialogue with the IP leaders in Surigao del Sur on Monday, October 21, in Lianga town. An IP leader says he hopes the dialogue to be a venue for peace and development of tribal communities in the area. (Photo courtesy of 18th Congress, House of Representatives)
BUTUAN CITY – As the dialogue scheduled by the party-list Bayan Muna in Surigao del Sur draws near, a leader of the Indigenous People (IP) in the province has expressed hope the gathering would focus on attaining peace and development in the area.
Rep. Eufemia Cullamat of Bayan Muna is scheduled to meet the IP Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of Surigao del Sur, together with officials of the Surigao del Sur provincial government and the Philippine Army on Monday (October 21) in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
“We greatly hope that this peace dialogue will really be about peace and reflect their sincere support to end local communist armed conflict in the area, and not the other way around,” Hawudon Jumar Bucales, the IP Mandatory representative of Lianga town, Surigao del Sur, said in a statement on Friday (October 18).
Bucales also hopes militant groups will “not make any scene to trigger any conflict and chaos to discredit our peace and development efforts in the community.”
He said the IPs of Lianga remain sincere in helping their community attain lasting peace and help facilitate the development intervention of the government in IP communities.
He also looks forward to Cullamat's support to the military's Community Support Program for the IPs in the area, as well as to the peace and development programs of the administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Bucales said he also expects Cullamat to stand firm in condemning the atrocities of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in the province.
The Army’s 3rd Special Forces “Arrowhead” Battalion (3SFBn) also issued a statement on the upcoming activity in Lianga on Monday and expressed support to the desire of Bucales for a genuine peace dialogue.
Lt. Krisjuper Andreo J. Punsalan, the civil-military operations officer of the 3SFBn, said the last time militant group Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation) or MAPASU held a dialogue in the area, it ended with the group trying to convince the provincial government of Surigao del Sur to pull out the Community Support Teams of the 3SFBn in Lianga.
Punsalan said MAPASU cited rehashed, false, and malicious accusations against the Army to compel the provincial government to remove military presence in the area.
The Army official said 3SFBn has been "working hand-in-hand with community leaders for sustainable peace and development" in the IP communities of Sitio Simuwao (Kilometer 9), Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
“They also threatened the governor to stage their usual and scripted ‘Taktikang Bakwit’ (Evacuation Tactic) to hamper the ongoing implementation of the Whole of Nation Approach to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) program of the government in the area," he said.
Sitio Simuwao, commonly known as "Kilometer 9", is considered Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs) and Conflict-Affected Areas (ConAAs) at the Andap Valley Complex in Lianga town.
Punsalan said peace dialogues should promote "reconciliation, synergy, convergence, and cooperation among the government and the community to harmoniously resolve basic social delivery services." (PNA)
