Execs urge Palace: Make Sagada special development area

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- The  inclusion of  this town  as  a special development  area under the  Payapa at Masaganang  Pamayanan  (PAMANA) program  of the government was referred to the office of  the  Presidential Adviser on  Peace  Process  (OPAPP) Sec. TeresitaQuintos Deles  following a  resolution of  the Sangguniang Bayan here.

Earlier, the Sangguniang Bayan requested President Benigno Aquino to include Sagada as a special development area under the PAMANA program administered by the OPAPP office.         

Vice Mayor Richard Yodong said Sagada people suffered long enough due to bloody operations between the New Peoples Army and government armed forces, demanding services  as the PAMANA program intends to provide to communities  long affected by conflict. 

The PAMANA program includes projects on livelihood and infrastructure support on agriculture implemented in communities  affected by violence and conflict between armed groups.  

The said SB resolution noted the suffering of the constituents of Sagada especially during the ‘80s  when three innocent children died due to heated operations between armed combatants of the NPAs  and the 50th Infantry Batallion of the government military forces.

The resolution recalled the fear that civilians experienced in going out to the fields to work endangering one’s life being caught in crossfires or becoming a suspect on both camps as a supporter. The precarious situation led to the demilitarization of Sagada eventually declared as a peace zone which eventually reached the Coalition for Peace and the Peace Commission then headed by Secretary   Alfredo Bengzon.

In May 1993, the National Unification Committee headed by the late Chairman HaydeeYorac with Senator Rodolfo Biazon recognized the Sagada peace proposal and subsequently declared six areas and Sagada as peace zones.

The SB also forwarded the said resolution to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin for their information.