The government is on the right gear as it tries to expand this 2024 all peace gains it has achieved in 2023.
This week the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity or OPAPRU vowed to build, with its slogan for the year “Peace: Bawat Buhay Mahalaga” upon which all of the agency’s peace-buildng interventions will be anchored.
We agree with OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. when he noted the peace process significantly affects the lives of every Filipino “regardless of social standing, gender, ethnicity, religion or personal beliefs.”
We know the OPAPRU personnel have a crucial role in achieving the major milestones in the comprehensive peace process in the past year.
He called on the agency’s employees to work closely with the other government agencies and “remain steadfast at all times to ensure that the hard-won gains of peace are not only maintained, but also nurtured and strengthened in the coming years.”
The Philippines has suffered two major armed conflicts in recent years – in Mindanao involving the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and a countrywide communist insurgency with the National Democratic Front.
At the heart of the conflict in Mindanao lies deep-rooted prejudices against a minority Muslim and indigenous population.
The conflict has roots in the colonial period, but the armed struggle for an independent state began in 1969, sparked by alleged discrimination and human rights violations under martial law from September 1972 to January 1981.
Many armed groups, most notably the MNLF and the MILF, fought against the government to establish an independent Muslim region in Mindanao. Over 150,000 were killed in the decades-long insurgency that ensued.
The conflict between the government and the communist National Democratic Front, umbrella organization of the local communists, began in 1968 and has since caused immense unrest for the civilian population and claimed more than 40,000 lives.
Since 2001, Norway has been the facilitator of the peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDF but these peace efforts have not resulted in further agreements.
There is a flicker of hope in the horizon after the government and the communist rebels agreed to restart peace negotiations after the latest round of talks ended in 2017.
High-ranking delegations from both sides have agreed to a “common vision for peace” that sought to address key obstacles, which was revealed by Norway’s foreign ministry in late November.
We hold the hopes that peace would be on our plate before much longer.