PEACE PROJECTS. Kiblawan Mayor Jason Rama leads the ribbon-cutting during the turnover ceremony for the 150-meter concrete pathway road in Barangay Abnate, Kiblawan town, Davao del Sur, on Wednesday (September 16, 2020). The project was initiated by the police and the military, through the Revitalized Police Sa Barangay and Retooled Community Support Program. (Photo courtesy of the Davao del Sur Provincial Police Office)
DIGOS CITY – Davao del Sur's provincial police joined hands with the Philippine Army in putting up several projects for residents of a village in Kiblawan town, which has been a flashpoint for communist guerilla activities
Colonel Alberto Lupaz, Davao del Sur provincial police director, led the turnover of several projects that included a concrete pathway on a previously inaccessible mountain slope in Barangay Abnate, along with the officers and men of the Army's 39th Infantry Battalion on Wednesday (Sept. 16).
Lupaz said the high-impact projects are partly funded by the donations from police and military personnel and were conceived by the provincial police and the 39IB out of a "collective aspiration" to solve the "urgent needs" of the Barangay Abnate residents.
The police, he said, shares the Army's belief that "it's not a war that will bring peace to a particular place but good deeds will win the hearts of anybody that will benefit from it."
Through the Philippine National Police's Revitalized Police Sa Barangay (RPSB) and the Army's Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP), Lupaz said the initiative to build a 150-meter concrete pathway for “habal-habal” (motorcycles-for-hire) in the village was hatched months ago to address the perennial problem of commuters, drivers, and farmers, who had difficulty transporting their products to market centers.
To give them a sense of ownership of the projects, Lupaz said the RPSB and the RCSP personnel convinced the villagers to adopt the "bayanihan system" to complete the projects, which also included two fishponds and two water-impounding tubs.
The police and the military also turned over PHP300,000 to the Abnate Farmers SLP Association as seed capital for the purchase of seedlings, fertilizers, and other farm tools.
Some of the funds and seed money, the police official said, came from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the local government of Kiblawan.
“I am more inspired and encouraged to help the people in this place and this difficult road will not hinder us in helping our people, especially in the Geographically Isolated Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs),” Lupaz said in his message during Wednesday's turnover of the projects.
Kiblawan Mayor Jason Rama and 1Lt. Renier Serrano, commanding officer of the 39IB's Bravo Company, as well as Kiblawan DILG Municipal Local Government Operations officer Saria Meyor, and Barangay Chairman Wennie Pandoy also graced the turnover ceremony.
Lupaz hopes that through the projects, the government can regain the trust and confidence of the villagers, the majority of whom are members of the B'laan tribe, whom he said have been victims of extortion of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) that has frequented the area for food or for recruitment.
He also lauded the RPSB and the RCSP teams in the area for "gradually educating" the residents on the "deception and false promises" of the communist rebels.
The police official also urged the villagers who remain "sympathetic to the communist terrorist group to withdraw their support to that hopeless ideology and sway their trust and confidence to the government that is trying its best to deliver basic services to the people, especially those who have less in life."
The government, he added, "is willing to accept with open arms those who wanted to lay down their firearms and return to the mainstream society where they could avail of the benefits embodied in the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program."
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)
