EDITORIALS

Ceasefire with NPA a welcome respite

The three-week ceasefire against the New People’s Army approved by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in observance of the yuletide season would usher temporary peace if the NPA would reciprocate. The ceasefire would start today and end on Jan. 6.

Ms Arroyo has also backed a plan in Congress to incorporate provisions of the repealed Anti-Subversion Law into the proposed amendments to the Human Security Act.

These are conflicting signals since the President has vowed to step up the government’s anti-insurgency fight to end the Maoist rebellion that the communists have waging for almost four decades.

“If we want to be First World, we have to put a stop to their ideological nonsense once and for all,” Ms Arroyo said citing the proposal of Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis, chairman of the House committee on defense, to amend the anti-terror law and incorporate provisions of the Anti-Subversion Law of 1957.

The law, repealed through the efforts of now Executive Eduardo Ermita, outlawed communism and all above-ground fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front.

Ms Arroyo and some government officials like Solis are of the opinion that the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA won’t be licked unless the anti-insurgency law is returned. Despite her tough talk, she approved the three-week Christmas truce – the longest suspension of military offensives against the communist rebels in history.

Even if the government thinks otherwise, insurgency can’t be licked if basic problems of the people like poverty and oppression are not addressed. But despite these, the ceasefire is a welcome respite from violence between the government and the rebels.


Public vigilance needed to ensure quality implementation of projects

The call of the Cordillera regional development council urging constituents to be vigilant in ensuring quality implementation of multi-billion flagship projects of the Arroyo administration being implemented in the different parts of the region should be backed by action, not empty rhetoric.

This, following “substandard implementation” of projects along the three-phase Halsema highway rehabilitation project that triggered an uproar from the people of the affected communities within the road line.

In 1989, the RDC formulated the Cordillera Road Improvement Project, a long-term masterplan aimed at completely rehabilitating the numerous road links in the Cordillera, purposely to gain national recognition on the need for improved roads in the countryside.

Over the past 19 years, the Cordillera had been receiving minimal funds to pursue the ambitious infrastructure development plan despite the persistent lobbying of the RDC and politicians for national recognition of the urgency to improve the countryside to spur economic development that could help in the country’s economic gains.

The dream of every Cordilleran to have good roads in their areas maybe slowly being realized with the implementation of various road projects under the Super Region concept of the administration that divided the country into four mega regions. The Cordillera is part of the North Luzon Agri-business Growth Quadrangle (NLAQ) which is comprised of the regions in the Northern Luzon area.

For this year alone, the national government has released at least P914 million to jumpstart the rehabilitation of vital road networks linking the Cordillera to Regions I and II, particularly phases two and three of the Baguio-Bontoc-Banaue road, the Bontoc-Tabuk-Cagayan road, the Abatan-Mankayan-Cervantes arterial road, the Cervantes-Sabangan road link and the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya road.

It was the earlier consensus of RDC members to call on stakeholders of these multi-billion infrastructure projects to be vigilant on what is being done in their respective areas and have the courage to report to concerned agencies the actual situation on the ground.

Juan Ngalob, regional director of the national Economic Development Authority in the Cordillera and interim RDC chair, said stakeholders of these infrastructure projects must learn to value the 19-year struggle of the RDC to gain national recognition, thus, they must reciprocate such efforts with vigilance and active participation in ensuring the quality implementation of the said projects.

In the next three years which is the targeted completion of the “state of the nation” projects, the Cordillera stands to get at least P3 billion to complete the rehabilitation of the different road links that could transform the present economic situation I the rural communities of the region that was deprived the needed development.

True, more roads lead to progress. But unless government shows the way in stopping corruption in implementation of projects and going after the culprits, expect more anomalies to be done in relation to road projects.