OPAPRU focused on peace promotion, won't engage in intimidation

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 21, 2023): OPAPRU focused on peace promotion, won't engage in intimidation (By Priam Nepomuceno)

OPAPRU Presidential Assistant Wilben Mayor (File photo)

MANILA – The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) on Tuesday said that it would never be involved in any acts of intimidation as all its initiatives are conflict-sensitive and peace promoting (CSPP).

OPAPRU Presidential Assistant Wilben M. Mayor made this remark after the Gabriela partylist alleged that the agency's personnel harassed one of its members, Elizabeth Maynigo, last March 17.

“Mariin po nating itinatanggi na nangyari itong insidente na ayon sa Gabriela, involved po ang mga kasamahan natin dito (We strongly deny that this incident, being claimed by Gabriela, involving our personnel)," he said in a statement.

Mayor said OPAPRU is guided by its vision of bringing a "just and lasting peace for the nation and all Filipinos" and its mission "to manage, direct, integrate, and supervise the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Process."

He said these interventions also aim to promote and reinforce national reconciliation and unity based on Executive Order 158, which reorganized the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) as OPAPRU.

Mayor said OPAPRU’s mandate is dovetailed to the Marcos Administration’s Five-Point Peace, Reconciliation and Peace Agenda, which includes the “ending of local communist armed conflict by expanding the transformation programs for local conflict peace process.”

Mayor said this is the reason why the agency is spearheading the Local Peace Engagement (LPE), as well as a transformation program under the government’s “whole-of-nation” approach in addressing the decades-long communist insurgency.

The LPE and its transformation program are being implemented by the National Task Force to Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC) LPE Cluster, which is co-chaired by the OPAPRU and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Mayor explained that the LPE aims to help former rebels (FRs), now referred to as "friends rescued," in returning to the fold of the law to reintegrate themselves into mainstream society, and becoming peaceful and productive members of their communities.

Meanwhile, he said the Transformation Program seeks to provide the necessary socio-economic assistance that will enable the FRs to sustain their peace journey and successfully complete their transition into civilian life.

Mayor is confident that the initiatives being carried out by the OPAPRU under the LPE and transformation trogram are now gaining major headway due to the positive changes seen in the lives of FRs and their communities.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1197806