BONTOC, Mountain Province – The newly-installed Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) is proposing the conduct of localized peace talks between the Communist Party of the Philippines – News Peoples Army (CPP-NPA) and the government through the duly designated local officials amidst the breakdown in the peace negotiations between the two parties in the national level.
IPMR and Boardmember Tomas B. Tawagen, who also chairs the provincial board’s committee on indigeneous peoples (IPs), said there were previous prescedents in the success of localized peace talks between the government and the communist rebels like the declaration of Sagada town as a peace zone, ths, the need to emulate the said scenario in other places not only in the province but also in other areas that intend to embrace such kind of intervention to ensure lasting peace in their places.
“We strongly support localized peace talks between the government and the communist rebels if the national initiative suffered a temporary breakdown. Everyone wants to achieve lasting peace but it only depends on how it will be undertaken, thus, we want to undertake the local initiative in the province which there had been a previous success,”Tawagen stressed.
Earlier, the provincial board passed Resolution No. 2017-044 entitled “Declaring the Support of the People and Officials of Mountain Province to the On-Going Peace Talks Between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.”
During a recent provincial peace form, it was identified that the main cause of unrest in the province was the destruction of the natural resources by individuals with selfish motives.
“We were taught by our Christian faith to protect and preserve our God-given resources and we can readily unite to defend our land as we have demonstrated in the past such as our united stand against the Cellophil Resources Corporation, Chico river dam project and Kairuz lumber operations,”Tawagen said.
The IPMR claimed the recent breakdown in the peace talks on the national level is just a temporary setback, thus, local officials and peace advocates in the different areas of the country should take the initiative in pursuing the peace talks with the NPAs operating in their places through the accepted indigenous systems and practices.
While there will be issues that we could not settle in the local level, Tawagen pointed out there are more issues that we could come to terms just to prevent both parties from being involved in atrocities that tend to compromise the peace and order situation in the province that would affect the gains of growth and development over the past several years.
He is optimistic that the NPA rebels in the province will accede to his proposal for localized peace talks for both parties to be able to craft acceptable mechanisms and strategies suitable to the prevailing situation in Mountain province that could serve as a template for other areas that are similarly situated to emulate.
Tawagen said it is likely that a localized peace deal will be entered by the concerned parties vis-à-vis the future developmets in the peace talks being pursued in the national level because the prevalence of peace will gurantee the influx of development in the different parts of the province which will provide employment opportunities for qualified residents and sources of livelihood for the people. By HENT