Government holds peace summit in Mindanao

By Ronron
July 5, 2007

The government will hold a two-day “Mindanao Peace and Security Summit” in Cagayan de Oro City next week to find out and address factors that prevent sustainable development in the region.

National Security Council (NSC) Senior Deputy Director General retired Lt. Gen. Victor Mayo said in a statement that the activity is organized by the NSC and will be participated by some 200 delegates from the national government, private stakeholders and local government units.

“The Summit aims to identify problems and difficulties faced in fighting terrorists from the perspectives of the stakeholders and agree on an action agenda to strengthen local mechanisms for counter-terrorism,” Mayo said of the event to be held on July 9 and 10.

“It hopes to present to the President, at the close of the summit, a covenant of partnership to help in a broad and multi-sectoral campaign against the terror threat in the country,” he added.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will personally attend the event on July 10, said NSC Public Information and Advocacy Office chief Lt. Col. Francis Judes Lauengco.

Mayo said the participants of the Summit are concerned members of the Cabinet, local government officials, including governors and city mayors; police and military commanders; recognized leaders of indigenous people groups, business groups, religious institutions, and the academe.

Asked in an interview at Camp Crame about the various threats to security in Mindanao, Philippine National Police (PNP) Directorate for Operations chief Director Wilfredo Garcia mentioned the communist rebels, the secessionists, and the local Moslem extremists.

Garcia said the number one threat is the New People’s Army (NPA), followed by the separatists such as renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The number three threat, he said, are the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and its allies like the Jemaah Islamiyah, the Rajah Solaiman Movement, and other Moslem extremists.

“These are the ones that really pose a big threat to peace and development in Mindanao,” he said.

Garcia placed the NPA on the number one spot because its threat “is pervasive everyday,” and most of its 7,100 members are spread all over Mindanao.

It is also the most organized, having legal fronts that support it, said Garcia.

“The NPA is the primary reason why we don’t have peace, especially in the countryside. We want to develop the countryside but they (NPA) are there, threatening potential investors. They burn establishments and facilities, or resort to extortion activities,” Garcia said.

Asked if the PNP can meet the deadline set by Arroyo for government troops to crush the communist movement before her term ends, Garcia said: “We can diminish them considering that more and more funds and equipment are being released for that purpose. So hopefully, by 2010, we can terminate them.”/DMS