The Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) 11 is now pushing for the conduct of localized peace dialogue between the local government units (LGU) and New People’s Army (NPA) in Davao Region.
RPOC chairman and Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang said on Wednesday afteroon, the members have agreed with the proposal since they want to try other ways to attain peace and order in the localities that have problems with insurgency.
Dayanghirang said the national government has been trying to negotiate with the officials of National Democratic Front of the Philippines and Communist Party of the Philippines but failed many times.
“Why not subukan natin, i-localaized natin ang peace talks at tingnan natin kung magiging epektibo ito? (Why not we give a try on localized peace talk and see if this effective?),” he said.
The governor said the conduct of local peace dialogues might have an advantage since the LGU officials already know the problem and might be have the solution to address it with the existence of Executive Order 70 or the Whole of Nation Approach to Attain Sustainable Peace and to End Local Communist Armed Conflict issued by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Dayanghirang added the local officials might already know the rebel personalities in their area of responsibility that will make it easy for them to hold talks if the localized peace talks will be pushed through.
He said the members of RPOC 11 already made a resolution for this move and they will submit it to the Office of the President for approval.
Dayanghirang said the council will be drafting the mechanism of the dialogue as soon as the president will approve their proposal.
Earlier, Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte said localized peace talks with the local government units should also be explored, to know which of these are viable in attaining the elusive peace.
Duterte said that if the LGU officials have the capacity to conduct the localized dialogue, the national government should allow it since they are the ones who experienced the problems of insurgency in their respective areas.
