CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro (PIA) — The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) emphasized the importance of former rebels (FR) in the government’s peace efforts such as the Transformation Program.
During the OPAPRU Media Orientation held at Calapan City on August 8, the OPAPRU eyes on creating a Special Project Team (SPT), a group composed of FRs in the region, to assist in the process of the Transformation Program in MIMAROPA region.
“Kasama na rin natin sila (FRs) sa pagka-cascade nitong transformation program, telling their stories…kasi maganda rin na madinig din natin from the former rebels themselves because they know the area…they know the local situations, they are credible doon sa experience na naranasan nila,” Ma. Celin Mendoza of the OPAPRU said.
(The FRs take part in the sharing of the Transformation Program, telling their stories because they know the area [and] they know the local situations. Their experiences are credible.)
Mendoza said that the Philippine Army is in charge of endorsing former rebels who do not have pending or current cases to be members of SPT, in coordination with the LGU. After the OPAPRU validates the list, the FRs will have formal engagements with the Office to help with the peace efforts in the communities.
Moreover, Regional Director Ariel T. Perlado of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) MIMAROPA also said that the efforts of the FRs in Palawan are one of the contributing factors that helped the province become insurgency-free in 2023.
He encouraged organizing an FR group in Mindoro Island, similar to Palawan, as it will positively influence the area’s peace efforts to eradicate insurgency peacefully.
The Transformation Program of the OPAPRU, paired with the Localized Peace Engagements, are some of the government’s initiatives to end the local communist armed conflict by helping the CPP/NPA/NDF and the FRs, including their families and the communities by providing security, confidence-building measures, socio-economic interventions, and healing and reconciliation efforts. (DSG/PIA MIMAROPA – Occidental Mindoro)
