Sanchez: Peace zones, Nature Speaks

THIS is so 1990s. But so timely for Negrense hinterland communities caught in the crossfire between government forces and different factions of communist rebel groups. A peace zone has come of age.

In the early 1990s, Cantomanyog residents in Candoni declared their area off-limits to all armed groups. The military and the New People’s Army guerillas have to set aside their weapons when they enter the community. This was the grassroots response to Brig. Gen. Raymundo Jarque’s OPlan Thunderbolt in the late 1980s and the NPA’s raid on the Camindangan army detachment.

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Overnight, the hinterland communities in almost the entire CHICKS area became free-fire zones. Civilians caught inside these areas were treated as combatants and spies by both sides. There were no way farmers can till their land in peace and safety, as both armed groups demanded allegiance to their cause.

Two decades later, the hinterland sitios of Bgy. Camindangan, a tri-boundary village of Candoni-Cauayan-Sipalay, have declared their areas as “zones of peace,” using the Cantomanyog Peace Zone as their model.

As anyone knows, creating zones of peace are easier said in press releases than practiced. How can UNARMED civilians deal with opposing armed groups literally gunning for each other without ending up sprawled as dead victims? With opposing armed groups insisted on their “rights” to come and go in any territory, all in the name of the people and their republics?

Everyone on the ground is held hostage by the powers on top. The grassroots cannot enjoy peace and live without fear in the absence of a peace settlement between the top-level antagonists.

And yet these zones of peace are such oases in the fiery desert of armed conflicts. It is the case of a people charting their own space, their future and their lives free from the dictates of armed groups. People power is greater than the power of the gun, belying Mao Zedong’s dictum.

All parties advocating for peace should support these grassroots initiatives. Yet, that is not the case. While the local governments of Candoni and Cauayan have embraced the concept, Sipalay supposedly were displeased over the proposal.

A Camindangan resident from the Sipalay side, who attended the recent Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting, presided over by Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., said Mayor Oscar Montilla and the city council oppose the establishment of a peace zone, claiming that it might affect their tourism promotion.

I don’t know if that’s really the Sipalay’s official stand. That assertion seems to lack common sense. How can you attract tourists to a place with a peace and order situation? The whole country’s tourism program suffered because of the botched rescue operation at the Quirino Grandstand. What sane, free-spending tourist would want to go to a militarized war zone?

Newly-installed Col. Jonas Sumagaysay, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said the brigade will support Camindangan residents’ efforts to make their place a zone of peace. He should have stopped there. But he spoiled it with a gung-ho quip that if NPA guerrillas enter the area, “We will act on that. We will be accused by the communities of not doing anything.”

In other words, the military can come and go, regardless of the unwelcome mat for ALL armed groups in Camindangan. Consultation and permission is optional, not de-rigeur.

That line doesn’t square with that of Major Gen. Vicente Porto, 3rd Infantry Division commander. Porto said the AFP will wage war using the weapons of delivery of desired basic services, implement various infrastructure projects in the countryside, coordinate with local government executives and government line agencies, and work with NGOs and people’s organizations, and other stakeholders in peace and development programs.

And that exactly are what these peace zones need. Everyone should work in tandem with all peace and human rights stakeholders. The last thing it needs are do-it-alone players.

Please email comments to bqsanc@yahoo.com