CEBU City – Peace and development should be accomplished “simultaneously,” according to the presidential adviser on the peace process.
Atty. Jesus Dureza stressed that “one should not come after the other.”
Dureza was one of the speakers during a seminar-workshop on federalism attended by around 30 media practitioners from across Visayas at the Summit Circle Cebu.
Dureza on the second day, Nov. 13 discussed government efforts in attaining peace in Mindanao.
Peace negotiations had been “cancelled” but they might still resume, he said.
“The door has hinges but it is not locked,” said Dureza, noting that the government is still conducting “localized peace talks” to mitigate conflict not only in the south but also in other parts of the country.
The seminar-workshop was organized by the Philippine Press Institute in cooperation with the Pimentel Institute for Leadership and Governance and the Hanns Seidel Foundation. Dureza was a former chairman of the PPI.
A local peace package under the government’s peace incentive allows the reintegration of former rebels into society.
Dureza said this program is for those who “want to live peaceful lives.”
The government official pointed to poverty as the “root cause” of the armed conflict in the Philippines.
“Tingnan niyo lahat ng mga areas. If you look at it, it’s not about ideologies. Ideological [issue] is already just the graduation of dissatisfaction … Poverty is the root cause, the trigger,” he said.
“Maski ano’ng peace negotiations ang gawin natin diyan, if people are still poor, wala pa rin,” Dureza pointed out.
Furthermore, the presidential adviser said the lack of educational facilities and economic development exacerbates the conflict.
“‘Bakit kayo magulo dito?’ – nandoon ako sa Sulu e – ‘Bakit kayo may baril?’” Dureza said as he recalled speaking to locals in the south. “‘Sir, walang kabuhayan. Iyong mga anak namin walang eskwelahan dito e.’ So that is unpeace [sic].”
“So peace muna bago development o development muna bago peace?” he added. “Peace and development must come together. It should not be one after the other. Iyan ang pinakamahalaga diyan.”/PN
