Bohol province hosts national peace consciousness month

Sprouting peace in the last decades has made Bohol the honored host to the 3rd National Peace Consciousness Month, an activity that brought the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), two Philippine Army major generals and peace advocates in the celebration at the Camp Rajah Sikatuna in Carmen.

The activity, co-hosted by Gov. Erico Aumentado and Col. Arthur Tabaquero of the 302nd Infantry Brigade is Bohol’s testimony of its advancement in the peace process, a long and tedious journey watered by the blood of martyrs and the sweat of government peace advocates.

Now leading the country in advancing peace situation by opening up the venue for dialogs, Bohol has recently earned the nation’s scopes when it successfully goaded the local members of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front to talk with the government so as to allow a venue for development here.

The move has so far caused almost a hundred former rebels to go back to the mainstreams and into the gathering of peace advocates throughout the province.The move has also earned for Bohol the biblical effort of beating swords into plowshares, when it facilitated the use of some 8 hectares of the military reservation as an agri-farm tourism showcase.

Living simple lives in government resettlement sites and given livelihood assistance, the former rebels rubbed elbows with government soldiers in “Pangahiusa sa Kanhi Rebelde (KR)” at the military camp in Carmen.

OPAPP Sec. Jesus Dureza, who came and observed the activity also delved into the intricacies of the Bohol experience, a success story that caused the dissolution of two guerilla in the province and its transfer of strategic base in Leyte. Sec. Dureza, in his messages has in fact another idea of the KR as Kauban sa Reporma (Comrades in Reform).

Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado handed a check worth P50,000 from the provincial government to the Composite Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CFMPC) headed by Agapito Eduava, one cooperative organized for the livelihood projects for some returnee members.

Maj. Gen. Cardozo Luna and Maj. Gen. Juanito Gomez, commanding generals of the Central Visayas Command (Centcom) and of the 7th Infantry Division in North Luzon respectively witnessed the turnover.
Both were commanding officers of the 302nd IBde when they were still colonels.

Dureza and Aumentado also turned over checks from the national government for livelihood assistance for qualified former rebels through the Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development (OPSWD) under Constancia Tuñacao.

The activities highlighted the program held at the Coop House of the Rajah Sikatuna MPC, a rebel resettlement site located right at the heart of a 40 hectare military reservation here.

During the program, Eduava, Payot, Julio Hinampas of the Bayanihan Community MPC in Barangay Tuburan, Ubay town and Adela Membrillos, head of the newest group of KRs presented testimonies and their issues to the OPAPP, the national, provincial and municipal governments and the private sector so they can again converge to help.

To note, OPAPP's Ma. Carla Munsayac-Villarta and Danilo Encinas in a meeting at the Capitol here Friday guaranteed the government would provide the assistance.

Some rebel returnees here have been granted land titles for home lots, a farm lot and a communal farm to start their new lives in Tuburan Ubay.
The provincial government is assisting another KR cooperative in an oil palm planting project.

Meanwhile, the Membrillos-led group is now working on its papers for registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Rajah Sikatuna MPC was then planned as a showcase agri-farm manned by KRs and puts in projects including animal (cattle, goat, chicken, duck and tilapia) fattening and dispersal, rice farming, vegetable gardening, cut-flower production, and skills training.

Earlier, KRs and delegates were treated to a video showing of an episode of Probe hosted by Cheche Lazaro featuring the peace initiatives of Bohol, Abra and Sagada in Mt. Province. These initiatives were also documented via a mounted photo exhibit at the Coop House.

The following day was another symbolic activity that wafted enough aspirations for peace in the eyes of the innocent Boholanos.
OPAPP and the delegates including several Cebu-based regional directors of various national government agencies and Loboc residents were treated to a free Taghoy sa Kalinaw, a concert by the Loboc Children's Choir at the 17th century Loboc Church at 2 p.m.

Singing a repertoire that included universal peace concepts and peace in the eyes of a child, the concert features the multi-awarded choir that had its beginnings as a regular public elementary school choir of 30 pupils.

Now one of the most famous choirs in the country, the choir was adjudged the champion in the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA) in 1993, 1995, and 2001, International Children's Culture and Arts Festival in China and Europe and its folksongs festival Champion in 2003. (PIA)