On Thursday, I took a 9-hour land trip from Cotabato to Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay to join a reception program for members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who have returned to their communities.
Zamboanga Sibugay Gov. Wilter Yap Palma gathered all government agencies in a remote village in the mountains of Titay, near the boundary with Zamboanga del Norte.
The sight of former combatants and their supporters rejoining their families and receiving initial assistance from government gives hope that Mindanao and the whole country will soon achieve peace.
Credit goes to President Rody Duterte who has displayed an inimitable will power to address both the Bangsamoro’s demand for greater autonomy and the half-century old Communist insurgency.
The critical part of the Duterte Peace Program, however, is sustainability.
The DPP will only be sustained if government agencies will realize that after the ceremonies and the giving of boxes of goods and financial assistance, there is a need for follow-through programs.
Simple livelihood programs and basic infrastructure services like rural roads, health centers, water systems and learning facilities are vital in the sustainability.
The most important factor in ensuring the sustainability of the Duterte Peace Program is Political Stability and Continuity.
It is a must that President Duterte’s successor must believe in this advocacy and embrace it.
Lest I am misunderstood as making a political endorsement here, let me clarify that this emphasis on political stability and continuity is based on my actual experiences as a political leader myself.
The scourge in the development of this nation is the craving of many politicians to glorify themselves by discarding the programs and projects of their predecessors and starting new ones with their names stamped on the “new” initiatives.
I have seen this disease which I call “Political Megalomania and Narcicism” destroy many good government programs in the past.
(I will write more about this in future posts.)
Before I left the mountains of Titay yesterday for another 9-hour journey back to Cotabato, I made a commitment to Gov. Palma and the people of Zamboanga Sibugay that I and the working team of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) will come back next month.
Together, we will build a bridge that would sustain the peace gains of the Duterte Presidency.
(This video material was prepared by the MinDA Media Group who joined me in Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay yesterday.)
https://www.facebook.com/MinDAgovphOfficial/videos/208020903570395
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