In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

Subanens hold peace rally as NPA leaders finalize peace talks

By Gualberto Laput

December 10, 2019, 9:33 pm

RALLY FOR PEACE. Indigenous peoples, mostly Subanen youths, hold a peace rally outside the Zamboanga del Norte Provincial and Sports Convention Center in support of the 3rd and Final Localized Peace Engagement, on Tuesday (Dec. 10, 2019). The formal surrender of 53 New People's Army rebels under the Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee highlighted the activity. (PNA photo by Gualberto M. Laput)

DIPOLOG CITY, Zamboanga del Norte – While the 53 members of New People’s Army (NPA) and their leaders were on the final stretch of the peace negotiations with government officials, Subanen groups and non-governmental organizations held a “peace rally” outside the Convention and Sports Center here on Tuesday.

A Subanen teenager said she joined the peace rally in support of the peace talks between government officials and NPA members, who are mostly Subanens.

“Armed struggle is not the answer to our needs!” Timoay Walter D. Tirol, tribal leader in the towns of of Gutalac, Baliguian, and Siocon, told the rallyists.

“What we need is what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. What we want are jobs so we can feed our families; what our children need is education, not bullets, not guns,” Tirol said.

The tribal leader also asked the government and the NPA to respect and protect the rights of the indigenous people and their ancestral domain.

Tirol noted that in any armed conflict in their places, the victims are often ordinary Subanens in the hinterlands whose only dream is to survive and live peacefully, “never to assume any leadership position nor to take over any government”.

He said that his people are already tired of being the victims of the “seemingly never-ending war between the communists and the government”.

He added that most of the Subanens who joined the NPA are already returning to the fold of the law.

Ka Ai-ai, one of the five leaders of the 53 NPA surrenderers, told reporters that she came to a point when she could no longer continue.

“There was a time, during a chance encounter, that I thought it was my last. I trembled, I’m frightened that one of the bullets whizzing around might hit me,” Ka Ai-ai said.

She added: “It’s enough. And I voluntarily went down to return to the fold of the law not as defeated soldier, but a tired warrior”.

Ka Ai-Ai and her colleagues signed the final agreement between her group of the Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee and the government representatives headed by Rene Glen Paje, Social Welfare Undersecretary for Inclusive and Sustainable Peace.

The last provision of the final agreement states: “The group and their allies and operators in Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee (WMRPC) of the CPP-NPA-NDF extend to President Rodrigo Duterte their heartfelt thanks for the E.O. 70 and for welcoming them back to the fold of the law with neither blame or shame.” (PNA)

 

Comments