The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has branded the recent attack on a road construction project in Camarines Norte as a desperate move of the communist rebels to derail the peace and development program of government.
“We are saddened by this violent incident that we condemn as
a distressed move by the communist terrorists against a public project being
implemented under the peace and development program of the national and local
government,” Major Gen. Yerson Depayso, commanding general of the 9th Infantry
(Spear) Division of the Philippine Army (PA) based in Pili, Camarines Sur, said
in a statement reaching here Tuesday.
He was referring to the burning of a cement mixer and
messing up of the road concreting project site in Barangay Tamisan, Jose
Panganiban, Camarines Norte, reportedly done by a band of New People’s Army
(NPA) rebels on Saturday afternoon.
The project being implemented by the Camarines Norte
provincial government is under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA), a
peace and development program of the administration of President Benigno Aquino
III.
Placed under the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the
Peace Process (OPAPP), PAMANA is a priority government program being undertaken
towards the attainment of economic progress in conflict affected areas in line
with the administration’s peace agenda directed toward ending internal armed
conflicts.
Projects under this program are conceived to communicate
effectively among communities the initiatives of government in building the
culture of peace and development in the countryside to make them resilient
against the anti-government whims of the insurgency being carried out by the
NPA.
To build resilient communities in these areas, PAMANA
focuses on empowering households and communities through the delivery of basic
services through community-driven reconstruction, development and livelihood
interventions.
It underscores that building resilient communities is one of
the two tracks of the Aquino administration in its pursuit of a just and
lasting peace, the first being the negotiated political settlement of all armed
conflicts through formal peace talks.
This approach is designed to close the gap between what
happens on the negotiating table and the realities on the ground as they also
serves as a guide for national and local government agencies, international
donors and non-government organizations in providing various interventions to
address conditions that create unpeace.
A total of about Php350 million was poured into the province
under this program from 2011 to 2013 which were all satisfactorily implemented
and now serving communities very well towards PAMANA’s aim of attaining
economic progress for the areas covered.
Last year, an additional allocations worth Php81 million
were released to the province under the same program covering five
municipalities of the province -- Basud, Capalonga, Labo, Mercedes and Sta.
Elena which as of early this year were 30- to 90-percent completed.
This year, an amount of Php139.5 million is also assigned
for more projects in the province, also under PAMANA.
An assessment recently conducted by the an inter-agency team
led by the OPAPP revealed that all completed PAMANA projects in Camarines Norte
were observed to be responding well to peace-building, reconstruction and
development in the province.
The attack on the Jose Panganiban project came following the
recent proclamation by the AFP of the province as “peaceful and ready for
further development” area based on the decreased violent activities of the NPA,
the reduction of its potential support system in the barangays and its failed
recovery efforts.
With this declaration, the military emphasized the need for
more socio-economic and development projects that the civil government should
implement with the support and protection of the military so that the peaceful
communities grow with people having a space where they feel safe.
A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was forged between the AFP
and the Camarines Norte provincial government to formalize such declaration
that describes the province as a “Conflict Manageable and Ready for
Development” area.
The signing of the MOA signaled the "shifting of
effort" from clearing of barangays from insurgent affectation supported by
socio-economic development to a reverse role.
It emphasizes the “shifting of effort” from clearing of
barangays from insurgent affectation to implementation of more socio-economic
and development projects as a reverse role that the civil government will
implement with the support and protection of the military.
Depayso said that although the Saturday attack is considered
an “isolated case” as its purpose was only to harass the provincial government
into the NPA’s extortion demand for “revolutionary tax”, still the act is worth
condemning as it is a senseless move that sows fear among the civilian populace
in the area.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=745033
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