ILOILO CITY — Troops of the Philippine Army based in Panay island are supportive of the holding of localized peace talks.
The campaign for localized peace talks is among issues tackled during Monday’s dialogue between 40 former rebels and the Philippine Army led Brigadier General Dinoh Dolina, commander of 3rd Infantry Division based in Jamindan, Capiz.
The former rebels came from the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz.
The dialogue was held at the headquarters of the 301st Infantry Brigade (301st IB) in Dingle, Iloilo.
Colonel Leo Peña, acting commander of the 301st IB, said that they are now at the advocacy aspect, “convincing the local chief executives to spearhead the localized peace talks with the help of the military.”
“In every area, there are different situations and different social problems. Local peace talk is more appropriate because there is involvement of local chief executives,” Peña said in an interview on Tuesday.
Peña said they are planning to bring the proposal to the Regional Peace and Order Council.
They are also planning to convince the regional directors and provincial governors to come up with an inter-agency joint task force in Western Visayas so they could talk about the importance of their proposed peace talks.
“It would be good that they should understand first the importance of our proposal before we come up with the unified decision if we will really push for this localized peace talks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Peña said that during the dialogue, the former rebels appreciated the proposed localized peace talks.
“They have the fear that is why they cannot negotiate and convince their former colleagues but they have the eagerness and willingness to tell the good projects of the government if there are those (rebels) who will come to them,” he said.
As of the moment, Peña said that the insurgency problem in Panay island is still “under control,” stating that there are more or less 140 members of the New People’s Army (NPA) left.
Aside from the localized peace talks, Peña said they also talked about the enhanced comprehensive local integration program and provision of sustainable projects for former rebels. (PNA)
