by Jose
Jemuel B. Dael
Butuan City
(10 April) -- Personnel from Action for Conflict
Transformation [ACT] for Peace Program recently
met with the representatives from local and
national government agencies and non-government
organizations in the province and talked about
peace-building process in strife-torn
communities, in the bid to end the armed
conflict between the military and the NPA.
Carlos
Cerezo, Area Technical Assistant in Caraga said,
ACT for Peace is a program that focuses on
post-conflict, conflict-affected and
conflict-vulnerable communities, especially
indigenous people's areas in Southern
Philippines and in Caraga region. It aims to
strengthen peace-building efforts and sustain
the gains for peace and development in priority
areas, being the priority program of the Arroyo
Administration in attaining lasting peace.
Basilio
Obello, Jr., Component Specialist said that the
program has five components in its efforts to
achieve lasting peace: Strengthening social
capital for peace building, Promoting human
security through improved access to basic
services, Promoting human security through
community economic development, Building
stakeholders' capacity for conflict
transformation and Promoting a culture of peace
towards peace-building and conflict
transformation.
He said that
the program is consistent with the 2004-2010
Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan and the
10-point agenda of Pres. Gloria Arroyo. He added
that although ACT for Peace is a government
program, it plays a neutral role and should not
be tagged as anti-insurgency.
"ACT for
Peace promotes a culture of peace and
partnership among key players in addressing the
root causes of the conflict, making it relevant
for our priority areas in the province," said
Obello, Jr.
Fr. Carlito
Clase of the religious group said that the
program is very promising but is very hard to
implement down to the masses unless the root
cause of the conflict is properly addressed such
as disputes over ancestral domain and issues on
the utilization of natural resources.
1LT Charles
Suganod of 36IB in agreement with Fr. Clase,
pointed out that the armed-conflict situation in
the province is different from ARMM areas and
should be treated with particularity.
The group
then identified conflict-affected areas
belonging to the bottom twenty of the province
for the five pilot barangays, subject to the
approval of Gov. Adolph Edward Plaza.
Cerezo said,
different steps and processes still have to be
taken before the program kicks off but the
meeting and program orientation is the first
move towards a virtuous path following recent
strides of peace building efforts in the
province.
ACT for
peace program is implemented by Mindanao
Economic Development Council [MEDCo] and is
covering 19 provinces and 14 cities, which
correspond with the areas, originally covered by
the former Special Zone of Peace and Development
plus the Caraga Region. Countries like
Australia, New Zealand and Spain are the major
donors of the program. (PIA-Agusan del Sur)
