Sagada as peace zone
>> Monday, September 16, 2013
HAPPY
WEEKEND
Gina
Dizon
SAGADA, Mountain Province -- The arrest
of two officers allegedly of the New People’s Army - Lolita Loquibis
and Rey Busania - and another unidentified woman here in this
resort town eve of Sept. 9 brings another bombastic headline
to Sagada.
This adding to previous incident that had Sagada hugging headlines the past weeks starting with the August 18 drowning of local tourist Eiren Manaois from Urdaneta City, here at Sumaguing cave one Sunday afternoon when rains were heavy and typhoon Maring has unleashed its fury. Up to now, Manaois has not yet surfaced.
This unfortunate incident was followed by by the August 30 bombing of the watershed and reported discovery of NPA camp at northern Aguid puncturing the image of Sagada as a peace zone followed by the recent news on the Sept. 9 arrest of three alleged NPA officers in a hotel here in Sagada.
Inquest proceedings followed at the Prosecutor’s Office in Bontoc, Mountain Province. One arrested woman was released due to neither non-incriminating evidence nor previous warrant against her. The other two- Lolita Loquibis and Rey Busania- were slapped with charges of murder from existing warrants of arrest.
While the impression maybe that the peace zone declared in the early 1990s is not working in Sagada because of the alleged presence of NPA in town, the material policy of said peace zone demands its material and continuing presence in a community carrying a rich experience of keeping peace within limits that it can handle and pursuing this.
The declaration of Sagada as a peace zone when two children were caught dead in a crossfire between the NPA and the government armed forces in the late 1980s, made the community declare all armed groups not to conduct operations nor hold meetings within Sagada territory.
Sangguniang Bayan Indigenous Peoples representative Jaime Dugao forwards pursuing Sagada as a peace zone is the way to keeping peace in the community.
Making an image that the peace zone is working in Sagada makes an asserted position of the people that the peace zone exists much as it was tested and has worked with the people in the community relatively experiencing this state of peace.
This, save for some isolated violations like the ambush at Pegew junction, Antadao in 2006 and presence of both NPA and government armed forces in 2008 to 2010 which has led northern Sagada elders and officials to pass a petition calling for demilitarization of the six northern barangays from all armed forces, a stand they have reiterated from an unfortunate incident in the late 1980s when an elder woman was caught dead in a crossfire between the two warring forces.
That is, the conscious position of the Sagada community for the peace zone to make it work has repeatedly been asserted and new events making the peace zone concept and solution to consistently keep peace a reality and a position that ought to be pursued much as the position has been repeatedly called for.
Otherwise, keeping one or both armed forces stay within the territory of Sagada or favoring another would be a dangerous undertaking.
Kapisanan ng Samahang Katutubo ng Pilipinas (KASAPI) secretary general Jovan Reyes says any neither act nor initiative that counters Sagada as a peace zone should be abolished.
This adding to previous incident that had Sagada hugging headlines the past weeks starting with the August 18 drowning of local tourist Eiren Manaois from Urdaneta City, here at Sumaguing cave one Sunday afternoon when rains were heavy and typhoon Maring has unleashed its fury. Up to now, Manaois has not yet surfaced.
This unfortunate incident was followed by by the August 30 bombing of the watershed and reported discovery of NPA camp at northern Aguid puncturing the image of Sagada as a peace zone followed by the recent news on the Sept. 9 arrest of three alleged NPA officers in a hotel here in Sagada.
Inquest proceedings followed at the Prosecutor’s Office in Bontoc, Mountain Province. One arrested woman was released due to neither non-incriminating evidence nor previous warrant against her. The other two- Lolita Loquibis and Rey Busania- were slapped with charges of murder from existing warrants of arrest.
While the impression maybe that the peace zone declared in the early 1990s is not working in Sagada because of the alleged presence of NPA in town, the material policy of said peace zone demands its material and continuing presence in a community carrying a rich experience of keeping peace within limits that it can handle and pursuing this.
The declaration of Sagada as a peace zone when two children were caught dead in a crossfire between the NPA and the government armed forces in the late 1980s, made the community declare all armed groups not to conduct operations nor hold meetings within Sagada territory.
Sangguniang Bayan Indigenous Peoples representative Jaime Dugao forwards pursuing Sagada as a peace zone is the way to keeping peace in the community.
Making an image that the peace zone is working in Sagada makes an asserted position of the people that the peace zone exists much as it was tested and has worked with the people in the community relatively experiencing this state of peace.
This, save for some isolated violations like the ambush at Pegew junction, Antadao in 2006 and presence of both NPA and government armed forces in 2008 to 2010 which has led northern Sagada elders and officials to pass a petition calling for demilitarization of the six northern barangays from all armed forces, a stand they have reiterated from an unfortunate incident in the late 1980s when an elder woman was caught dead in a crossfire between the two warring forces.
That is, the conscious position of the Sagada community for the peace zone to make it work has repeatedly been asserted and new events making the peace zone concept and solution to consistently keep peace a reality and a position that ought to be pursued much as the position has been repeatedly called for.
Otherwise, keeping one or both armed forces stay within the territory of Sagada or favoring another would be a dangerous undertaking.
Kapisanan ng Samahang Katutubo ng Pilipinas (KASAPI) secretary general Jovan Reyes says any neither act nor initiative that counters Sagada as a peace zone should be abolished.
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