For the very first time, 11 Municipal Peace and Order Councils (MPOCs) have been brought together to discuss their roles in building a lasting and sustainable peace in the region and beyond.
A diverse group of representatives from the MPOCs of the First District of Misamis Oriental arrived last Wednesday (August 22, 2012), and gathered at the Balay Mindanaw Foundation’s Rey Magno Teves Peace Hall for this two-day activity dubbed “Empowering the Local Peace and Order Councils as trailblazers in addressing the challenges of development, peace and security.”
The MPOCs, composed of local officials as well as representatives from the security sector and the private sector, have in the past years been given increasing responsibility over the task of maintaining a lasting and sustainable peace in their respective communities. However, this does not simply mean policing communities and retaliating against armed encounters.
In his opening speech, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) provincial director Ponciano D. Caberte emphasized that “Peace is not merely the absence of war.” He then cites the example of Sitio Lantad in Balingasag, which for years had been the hub of communist insurgency. “Lantad was a sign of the government’s neglect,” he said.
The provincial administration under Gov. Oscar S. Moreno addressed this problem not with the traditional method of frays and firearms, but by addressing the underdevelopment and poverty in the area with the help of non-government organizations and, incidentally, soldiers, Caberte said. This novel approach, he noted, transformed the community from a land of insurgency to a land of peace and progress. “For a lasting peace in Mindanao, we must collaboratively address the root causes of insurgency,” he added.
This set the tone for the two-day event, the highlight of which was a workshop lead by Kaka Dacup of Balaod Mindanaw. The output of this workshop was a working plan for each municipality that addressed the issues which were priority to their community. Among the common key issues were the lack of livelihood opportunities, domestic violence, insurgency threats, political factions and violations of environmental laws.
While some of these issues may have seemed vague in their relationship to peace, Dacup urged everyone to remember the Lantad experience – that giving the people a better life will ultimately and inevitably lead to peace.
Paul Paraguya, the ambassador for Balay Mindanaw, said in his closing address: “Peace and Order Councils are like the car in which we had to drive from the root causes of insurgency towards a more lasting and sustainable peace.”
The next assembly, consisting of participants from the Second District of Misamis Oriental, will take place early this September.( Hazel Aspera )