Peace programs launched in former M'danao war zone

KIDAPAWAN CITY – A number of programs designed to promote peace in one of the most war-torn villages in Mindanao was launched in North Cotabato over the weekend. North Cotabato Rep. Jesus Sacdalan on Saturday initiated in Barangay Nabalawag his "pala-pala" (shovel) program, which he started when he was still the governor of the province. Sacdalan's "mission" was to distribute shovels and other farm tools to Moro farmers in conflict-affected areas in his district. "These farm tools are best instruments in promoting peace in this troubled Mindanao. I have always believed that when there's peace, there's development in the community," said Sacdalan, chair of the Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity in the House of Representatives. Barangay Nabalawag, some 11 kilometers away from the commercial center of Midsayap town in North Cotabato's first legislative district, was the site of the intense fighting between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in August 2008, when peace negotiations bogged down.

The village is the boundary of Midsayap and Datu Piang in Maguindanao, where hundreds of MILF rebels were believed to have come from. The Nabalawag Elementary School, located along the Midsayap-Datu Piang road, became site of the evacuation of thousands of displaced families during the war. Two years after the August 2008 conflict, Sacdalan and Maguindanao Rep. Bai Sandra Sema, who is the vice-chair of the Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, went back to the area and introduced a new "peace agenda" to the villagers. Aside from distribution of farm tools, the legislators from North Cotabato and Maguindanao, together with Undersecretary Luisito Montalbo of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), led the planting of Mahogany and Rubber in Barangay Nabalawag and the repair of school buildings at Nabalawag Elementary School. "This initiative may be simple, but we believe it has an impact on peoples' lives here… that instead of creating conflicts among the residents here, we’re actually bringing peace to them," said Sacdalan. He stressed that the armed conflict has caused so much suffering for civilians and worsened their experience of poverty. According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC0, the August 2008 conflict resulted in the deaths of 71 people. More than 300,000 people have fled their homeswhle nearly 100 were injured. - KBK, GMANews.TV