DAVAO CITY — For consistently modeling in peace initiatives and services for former rebels the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Unity and reconciliation (OPAPRU) pilots the province of Davao Oriental as among the two pilot provinces in the country to implement a new program envisioned to sustain peace and maintain the insurgency-free status of the province of Davao Oriental and the rest of the region.
This, after the OPAPRU and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) declared Davao Oriental as insurgency-free province last month.
Being a pilot province, Davao Oriental will implement a strategy dubbed as Localized Peace Engagement transformation programs designed by the national government to further sustain the gains of the province in peace building and other support programs.
Presidential Adviser for Peace Carlito Galvez emphasized “The main strength of these LPEs lie in their ability to bring all the government agencies and key stakeholders together – which is the heart and soul of E0 70 – and providing them an opportunity to contribute in peacebuilding by acting as agents of peace, understanding and solidarity in their communities.”
LPEs are anchored on the concept of Normalization which include the transformation of armed fighters to peaceful civilians; the delivery of socio-economic programs to the affected communities; the provision of possible amnesty programs; and the healing process among the former rebels and victims of armed conflict.
Through the LPE , the provincial government will provide a holistic support programs and services for the total reintegration of former rebels in the mainstream society. The program approaches include a holistic intervention among families of FR’s and their communities to fully address the concerns which led them to embrace the ideology of the marxists group..
The peace body has cosen Davao Oriental due to their successful peace-building programs and services which led to the surrender of hundreds of former rebels and their families.
THE LPE, in an institutionalized program of the government to continuously support the communities previously influenced by the insurgents.
The OPAPRU specifically cited the initiatives undertaken by Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon since 2013.
Through the effort of Malanyaon, the provincial government established a transient home for the FR’s where they undergo series of livelihood trainings needed to capacitate them to become a productive and generate income when they reintegrate to their communities,
Malanyaon was elated by the recognition but said “There is a need to further hone our strategy to ensure that we sustain our gains in peace-building which will help us in our economic endeavor, investors come in when they know that the place is peaceful.”
