CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity said on Thursday, August 8, that peace and development centers will be established in Oriental Mindoro and seven other provinces as part of a nationwide peace-building process this year.
ARIEL Perlado, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency-Region 4-B chief, stresses the importance of media exposure in implementing the peace efforts of the government during an orientation in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro on Thursday, August 8. Also in photo are Katherine Chloe S. de Castro, deputy director general for creative communications and external affairs, PIA; retired Major Gen. Rene G. Paje of OPAPRU, Adolfo Ares P. Gutierrez, PIA director-general for regional operations, and Earl Ligorio R. Turano II, provincial legal officer of Oriental Mindoro. (PIA-Region 4-B via Jerry Alcayde)
Maria Celin Mendoza, Peace Program Officer V of OPAPRU, said that there will now be at least 16 peace and development centers all over the country.
Mendoza was one of the resource speakers in a media orientation on the peace process at the Filipiniana Hotel here.
She said these centers serve as repository of all efforts in implementing the localized peace engagement with rebel groups, notably the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front.
The other provinces that will have these centers are Bukidnon, Sorsogon, Zamboanga Sibugay, Quezon, Samar, Agusan del Sur, and Surigao del Sur.
Another resource speaker, retired Army Major Gen. Rene Glen Paje of OPAPRU, presented the government’s strategy on post-armed conflict transformation with the objective of ending the cycle of NPA recovery and understanding the multi-dimensional nature of the local communist armed conflict.
Earl Ligorio R. Turano II, provincial legal officer of Oriental Mindoro, relayed the full support of Gov. Humerlito A. Dolor in the government’s comprehensive peace process.
“With roads come progress,” Turano said, underscoring the importance of building more access roads to help in sustaining the process.
Turano said that in Oriental Mindoro, at least 155 former communist rebels are undergoing the necessary orientation for the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), a government initiative that aims to provide a package of benefits and assistance to former communist guerillas.
Ariel Perlado, director of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency 4-B, said that the media orientation was essential in strengthening the anti-insurgency programs such as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Katherine Chloe S. de Castro, deputy director general for Creative Communications and External Affairs of the PIA, said the orientation also aims to bring back the good relationship of the government with the media.