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By Ma. Ester L. Espina, Correspondent
BACOLOD CITY: After an afternoon of diving and
sleeping in what was known as the haven of insurgents in the 1980s,
President Gloria Arroyo cited Sipalay City in southern Negros
Occidental as a model that “validates the thesis that defeating
insurgency promotes growth.”
Arroyo who was in town as the Guest Speaker in
the two-day Peace and Security Assembly for Region 6 spent Wednesday
afternoon diving at Campomanes Bay and later slept over with friends
in Sipalay City.
Looking tanned and relaxed, Arroyo described the
tourism growth in Sipalay as “amazing,” as the city was once the
“dreaded S in the CHICKS area.” The President was referring to
the towns and cities in Negros Occidental (Candoni, Hinoba-an, Ilog,
Cauayan, Kabankalan and Sipalay), known to be rebel-infested at the
height of the insurgency in the 1980s.
Arroyo said what happened in Sipalay simply
proves that, “the way to peace isn’t through the barrel of a
gun. Rather it begins with providing jobs, food on the table and
human dignity.”
“Central to that success is to invest in
people, in education, healthcare, roads, bridges, and schools. And
we are making those investments,” she added.
She also urged local government officials to
initiate localized peace talks while national government will
continue to pursue talks and “hopefully a conclusion of a peace
agreement with the CPP-NPA/NDF.”
The President also ordered the full
implementation of the existing peace agreement with the breakaway
rebel group Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB).
“We want our peace agreement with the RPA to
bring a new era of economic development,” citing RPA stronghold
barangays in 15 towns and cities in Negros Occidental, and some in
Iloilo province and Aklan.
“We have achieved a great deal. Western
Visayas is vastly improved in terms of security and economic
growth,” Arroyo said.
She urged the local government units that the
only way to achieve our vision of becoming a First World country is
“to defeat insurgency.”
“The communist rebels have spent years as a
low-level threat. It is time for their disruption and violation of
human rights to put to rest so that the nation can move,” the
President said.
“They [rebels] are responsible for a wide
range of human rights abuses. If we are to become a first world
country, we have to put a stop to their ideological nonsense and
their criminal acts once and for all,” she added.
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