Paranoia hindering Abra peace, says police official

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet – Chief Supt. Benjamin B. Magalong, newly-installed regional director of the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera, admitted “too much paranoia” is the major hindrance to the attainment of lasting peace in the conflict-stricken province of Abra.

“Realizing lasting peace in Abra is a very challenging work. The long term solution to the peace and order problem in the province is not with me or the police force but it is with the people themselves,” Magalong stressed, adding that re-engaging all feuding sectors will be one of the steps he will undertake to bring them back to peace mood.

According to him, initial talks were already done with two rival groups in Abra and they had established a common ground, which is realizing peace and order that will serve s a jump off point in convincing the people to embrace peace as their primordial battle cry in the coming days.

By next week, Magalong will be visiting Abra to dialogue with sectors that will be at the forefront in revitalizing peace efforts which had been the clamor of the people.

He is optimistic that lasting peace will reign in Abra in the coming months once all the appropriate interventions shall have been put in place with the support of the local officials and the community who will be tapped to play vital roles in realizing such efforts in order to attract the influx of investors to conduct business and increase economic activities in the province.

“I‘m not asking the people to trust or believe me. I just want to solicit the support of Abrenians to establish a formidable partnership that will bring lasting peace n the place,” he said.

The police official revealed the suspension of the permit to carry firearms outside residence will stay while giving out marching orders to police operating units to aggressively implement the campaign against unlicensed firearms and the arrest of the over 1,000 wanted persons so that factors contributing to violence will be eradicated.

“Based on our initial talks with rival groups, we have a god chance of realizing lasting peace in Abra but we must keep the fire burning and have everybody up on their feet so that we will not loose control of the situation. We will establish lasting partnerships among all sectors in order to get their sentiments and appropriately address them,” Magalong claimed.

In the past, he explained too much suspicion on the part of rival groups have resulted to the emergence of violent incidents that have led to the loss of innocent lives of politicians and their supporters, thus, the need to bridge the communication lines among them to avoid the prevalence of an atmosphere of paranoia.

Abra is one of the six provinces that comprise the Cordillera Administrative Region. It has been known to be the killing fields of the North because of the string of violent incidents that led to the loss of lives of hundreds of innocent political figures over the past two decades. -- Dexter A. See