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Friday, August 04, 2006
Tom: Talk, instead of declaring war
Cebu City Mayor is encouraging Capitol to hold a dialogue with communist insurgents instead of declaring an all-out war against them.
It does not have to be Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, he said, but she can send a member of her staff or somebody she trusts to sit in the negotiating table with the rebels.
He is even willing to help arrange for the dialogue by acting as mediator.
“In my own little way I can help. Maybe set it (dialogue) up. Because the more talking there is, the less killing there will be,” the mayor said.
The governor agrees with Osmeña.
Open door
Garcia is calling on respected and well-meaning individuals to talk to her in relation to her all-out war policy against insurgents. She welcomes inputs from them.
Garcia said she does not want to communicate with them through newspaper reports.
“The door is open. Let’s interact. I welcome all well-meaning, sincere Cebuanos who would like for me to listen to their thoughts and opinions and their valuable inputs for the good of this Province,” she said.
The Arroyo administration has pledged to wipeout communist insurgency by allocating P1 billion for the campaign and asking the military and police to work together to achieve this goal.
Former governor Vicente de la Serna has urged Garcia to set clear parameters of her all-out war policy to avoid misinterpretation that police and the military now have the authority to go after legitimate organizations.
His comments were similar to that of Mayor Osmeña and Cebu Archdiocesan media liaison officer Achilles Dakay.
But Garcia explained that her policy is a holistic approach to the problem.
She created the Provincial Anti-Insurgency Task Force and this has four divisions: information, rewards and incentives; socio-economic and livelihood; public relations and legal.
“I have specified my programs and I know who are the communist terrorists and who are hiding behind legal masks who are nevertheless communist terrorists,” she said.
De la Serna had said there should be a clear definition of what insurgents are to avoid wrong interpretations.
But Garcia her policy has been “well-planned and well-analyzed.”
“I am not the one who opens my mouth and think about what I said later. But once I’ve opened my mouth and I’ve said my piece, I mean what I say,” Garcia said.
In a separate press conference, Osmeña said he is not trying to impose on the governor by giving an unsolicited advice.
Mistake
Last Tuesday, he said he hoped Garcia does not share the same stance as anti-communist leader Pastor “Jun” Alcover of the Nationalist Alliance for Democracy (NAD).
Alcover said militant groups like Bayan and Karapatan are legal fronts of the communist movement in the country.
“If we are going to take the stance of Jun Alcover, I think it is a serious mistake because they’re branding even those in the center along with left of center (in terms of political ideologies) as outright terrorists,” the mayor said.
Alienating some sectors by branding them as “communist” creates division and “will not do us any good,” he said.
The Capitol last week drummed up support for its own war against local rebels by asking each barangay to follow its lead and come up with resolutions showing support.
Of the 1,206 barangays in the province, 888 were represented during a general assembly at Cebu Grand Convention Center, where the provincial anti-insurgency plan was discussed.
In that gathering, Alcover gave a three-hour presentation of the insurgency situation in the country, communist propaganda and their strategies in gaining support.
In response to the mayor’s earlier statement, Alcover said Cebu City’s chief executive favors militant groups by allowing them to hold rallies without permits.
For that, the mayor could face trouble in court, the anti-communist movement leader said.
Yesterday, the mayor said he “does not care” what Alcover says when it comes to his stand on the issue.
“I don’t care. He can speak out all he wants and I can speak out all I want. Am I supposed to answer him? Thank heavens he is not the mayor!” Osmeña said. (RHM/MBG)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 4, 2006 issue)
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