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| poverty |
By Marlon Balmadrid
PASAY CITY. – His winning moments as governor
for nine years were “moving Bohol out from Club 20 – the 20 poorest provinces
in the country, and ending the over four decades of communist insurgency
therein”.
Thus Rep. Erico Aumentado (Bohol, 2nd District)
Friday told the Rotary Peace Festival panel discussion at the Mall of Asia SMX
Convention Center, this city.
The solon represented the local government units
(LGUs) upon the unanimous endorsement by the Office of the Presidential
Assistant on the Peace Process (Opapp) and the military Civil Relations Service
(CRS) that have made Aumentado’s Poverty Reduction for Peace and Development:
The Bohol Experience a template for replication in other insurgency- and
poverty-torn provinces.
Opapp Undersecretary Louie Montalbo keynoted the
forum with his address, “We are all for peace: Our gains and winning moments”
while Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio “Sonny”
Coloma Jr. acted as moderator.
Commenting on the ongoing negotiations,
Aumentado said the time is propitious and opportune to push for reaching the
elusive peace with the insurgents because Pres. Benigno Aquino III is very
popular and highly supported by the Filipino people, hence, the government can
negotiate from the position of strength. He noted that the Aquino factor must
have forced the MILF to drop its demand of carving a sub-state in Mindanao.
On the Bohol experience, Aumentado, said the
problems of poverty and insurgency were interlocking when he assumed office on
June 30, 2001. The poverty incidence was 53.6% in 2000, with Bohol No.16 in the
country’s poorest provinces list at that time.
The insurgency situation was also “terrifying”
as 305 out of Bohol’s 1,109 barangays or 30%, were either influenced,
infiltrated or threatened, with 283 armed rebels in four fronts making Bohol
the hotbed of insurgency in Central and Eastern Visayas.
In response, the provincial government drafted a
peace and development framework centered on poverty reduction with the goals of
not only removing Bohol from Club 20 but also reducing poverty incidence by 50%
in 2015 under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) commitment. The
development thrust, he said, was focused on attaining peace and security in the
province.
The major anchor in Bohol’s successful
two-pronged fight was the establishment of Team Bohol with the civilian,
military, police authorities, the private sector and even the churches of
various denominations becoming major components in the strategy on building
alliances and bridges.
The active collaboration of then Tagbilaran
Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak, now military ordinate, and then Col. Juanito Gomez,
302nd Infantry Brigade Commander, who later on became major general commanding
the 7th Infantry Division, strengthened the provincial government’s
mobilization efforts for all sectors to re-direct their programs to poverty
reduction for peace and development. The massive infusion of official
development assistance and national government support as well as the LGU-led
campaign resulted to the success on the twin fight.
The end result, Aumentado said, was the
declaration by the United Nations Development Programme Philippines 2005 Human
Development Index Report that Bohol was out from Club 20 and occupied the 41st
position in the higher level of provinces. In fact, Bohol was the No.2 best
performing province in poverty reduction which was reduced from 53.6% to 29.2%.
The poverty incidence was further reduced the
following year when the National Statistics Coordination Board of NEDA reported
that Bohol went up higher in the stratum of highly performing provinces in
poverty reduction to the extent that it has moved further upwards to the 52nd
position, with the poverty level pegged at about 26.7%. The reduction attained
for Bohol its goal of reducing by 50% in advance of its MDG commitment.
In the anti insurgency front, then Col. Alan
Luga, then 802nd Brigade commander, declared that the four communist fronts in
Bohol were already dismantled in 2009. Consequently, Maj. Gen. Arthur
Tabaquero, 8th Infantry Division commanding general, and P/Chief
Supt. Lani-o Nerez, Central Visayas police director, with then Defense Sec.
Norberto Gonzales, officially declared Bohol as insurgency free on February 11,
2010 during the inauguration of the rebel returnees’ Bayanihan Center, a joint
project of the provincial government, the Presidential Management Staff and
Opapp in Remedios, Danao.
Aumentado noted that all the brigade commanders
from Col. Cardozo Luna to Luga who collaborated with him in winning the fight
against poverty and insurgency in Bohol were all promoted to general, with then
Col. Jessie Dellosa to lieutenant general as the highest military official for
becoming the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines today.
Already major general, Luga is now the Bicol military commander.
The solon also cited other major accomplishments
during his three-term gubernatorial stint – the multi-billion peso mega
projects such as the Bohol Circumferential Road, the Bohol Irrigation Project
and the Leyte-Bohol Interconnection Project, the Strong Republic Nautical
Highway and RoRo ports development in Tagbilaran, Tubigon, Ubay and Jagna, the
concreting of major tourism highways, the surge of tourism in the province,
development of hospitals and health services, education and livelihood projects
for the people.
In sum, he said, good governance and the seal of
good housekeeping, transparency and accountability, and bringing the government
closer to the people especially in the NPA territories have broken the backbone
of the communist insurgency in Bohol.
The military and police authorities, he said,
together with the church leaders, business, civic and community leaders all
worked together to bring about peace and development of the province with the
LGUs acting as catalysts.
To prevent the re-entry of the NPAs, the solon
said, the Bohol Local Integrated Security System (BLISS) should be continued
and strengthened so that its network can continue to function as a deterrent
force against the return of the communist rebels and other lawbreakers as well.
He added that what he did for Bohol augers well
for a peaceful Philippines, ripe for development under reformist President
Aquino.
Aside from Aumentado and Montalbo, other
panelists for the executive branch were Police Gen. Samuel Pagdilao, PNP and
Brig. Gen. Leo Ferrer, military; Cecile Alcantara, Industry: Jurgette
Honculada, peace negotiating team: Fr. Edwin Garinguez, church: Karen Tanada
and Jasmine Galace, NGOs: and Paulo Benigno Aquino, youth leader.
