PANANAW MULA SA PALASYO

“Poverty Reduction for Peace and Development” was the key theme at the Local Peace and Security Assembly held in Tagbilaran City, Bohol last week.  Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado, who is also the national president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), presented Bohol’s initiatives in the fight against the interlocking problems of poverty and insurgency.

Bohol is truly a success story, hence the decision by the National Security Council, to hold the Local Peace and Security Assembly in Tagbilaran City. 

Not too long ago, Bohol was number 16 on the list of the country’s 20 poorest provinces, known as “Club 20.” It was also the hotbed of insurgency in Central and Eastern Visayas. Of the 1,109 barangays in Bohol, 350 -- or 30 percent thereof – were in various stages of insurgency.  They were, in security parlance, either influenced, infiltrated or threatened. There were also an estimated 283 armed men in four fronts in the province, making Bohol the hotbed of insurgency in Central and Eastern Visayas. 

With the goal of removing Bohol from “Club 20” and at the same time root out insurgency, the Bohol provincial government undertook, among others, the following initiatives: creation of the Bohol Poverty Reduction Management Office (BPRMO), the Bohol Employment and Placement Office (BEPO), and the Bohol Tourism Office.   Another unique initiative was the establishment of the Let’s Help Bohol Program, where 135 people’s organizations (POs), with an aggregate of 7,650 families, were involved in a carabao, goat and chicken dispersal program.

One major breakthrough was the visit of Secretary Meng Jian Zhu, concurrent chairman of the Jiangxi Province Standing Communist Party Committee of the People’s Republic of China, for the signing of the Jiangxi-Bohol Sisterhood Agreement arranged by Mr. Carlos Chan, now Philippine Special Envoy to China.  In a media interview, Mr. Meng declared that China is not supporting the communist insurgency in the Philippines, especially Bohol, thereby striking a blow against the CPP-NDF-NPA in Bohol.

Among the key players in these efforts of “Team Bohol,” were then Tagbilaran Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak, now military vicar-general, and then Col. Juanito Gomez, 302^nd Infantry Brigade commander and now a Major General commanding the 4^th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

Aumentado realized early enough that conflicts borne from poverty, deprivation of basic goods and services, lack of employment and livelihood opportunities, injustice and human rights violations have to be addressed jointly by the government, national and local, as well as all the stakeholders, including the religious sector, the military and civil society.

Aumentado employed a combination of alliance building, convergence, community organizing, capability building and reinvigorating the bayanihan spirit or self-reliance with amazing results.  

In 2005, the United Nations Development Programme Philippines 2005 Human Development Index Report declared that Bohol has graduated from Club 20 and now occupied the 41^st position in the higher level of provinces. In fact, Bohol was the No. 2 best performing province in terms of reduction of poverty,   from 52.6 percent to 29.2 percent.

There was a corresponding sharp reduction in the number of CPP-NDF-NPA affected barangays from 305 to 46. The armed NPA members went down from 283 in 2001 to 64 in 2005. The Central and Eastern Visayas headquarters of the CPP-NPA in Bohol was so effectively weakened that it moved its operations elsewhere.

A year later, in 2006, the military estimated that the number of NPA armed men further went down to 42 while the number of barangays under the insurgents’ sway was reduced further to 36.

Aumentado deservedly was beaming with pride when he declared: “Our people woke up from their ‘sleep’ with insurgents after realizing that the government is indeed sincere in helping them out of poverty and that the military has a humane face in the campaign. The barangay folks in the affected areas now refuse to give sanctuary to the insurgents who used their barangays as bases of operations in the past.”

Under these conditions, and the vibrant cooperation between the public and private sectors, Bohol’s economy has flourished.  It is now consistently ranked as a major tourist destination in the country and No. 1 agricultural producer of rice, coconut, oil palm, root crops, fish, seaweeds for carrageenan production and livestock in Central Visayas. It has also reaped a number of prestigious awards, including the Award for Continuing Excellence (ACE), the highest award conferred by the Gawad Galing Pook Foundation. 

The best news is that the Bohol experience can be replicated by the other provinces in the country, as long as their leaders have the political will to work for poverty alleviation, peace and development. 

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President Arroyo, the guest of honor during the Local Peace and Security Assemblty, was all praises for the Boholanos, “from Dagohoy to Aumentado.”

What Aumentado accomplished is really an example of the President’s new “paradigm for peace” in striking at the roots of the insurgency problem. This new paradigm employs not just the hard power of military might, when needed, but more importantly, the soft power of our growing economy.

To be effective, the armed forces must have the support of the people as proven successful by the Bohol experience.  The President hopes to reinforce the support of the people by enhancing civil-military relations.  She also fully supports the recommendation of the Local Peace and Security Assembly in Bohol that we should review the reservist and reserve force development program of the AFP, the ROTC and other similar programs consistent with the doctrine of a Citizen’s Army enshrined in the Constitution. 

The President believes that the resolutions adopted at the Bohol Assembly and those at forthcoming peace assemblies, when refined and adopted by all LGUs, will be potent tools for security and stronger local governments and therefore, a blueprint for a stronger and more progressive Philippines. 

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