For Mayor Lani Sarillo Candolada of Tulunan, North Cotabato, the key is getting a ‘peace process adviser’ who can focus on the town’s peace agenda so as to address conflicts in the locality.

The conflict has been there for years and the local government’s response has been “never ending dialogue, dialogue, and dialogue,” she said.

The mayor spoke about Tulunan’s experience in her talk about localizing the peace agenda, one of the modules discussed during the Operation Peace Course (OPKors!) Peace building and Conflict Management training attended by junior officers of the 6^th Infantry Division.

The training, the 14^th for officers of the Eastern Mindanao Command of the armed forces, was held on October 19 to 23, at the Mindanao Training Resource Center here.

Candolada said she appointed ex-municipal councilor Rolando Lim, who formerly headed the justice and peace desk of the diocese of Kidapawan.

Lim’s official work is actually as focal person for community development. But the need to secure peace as a requisite for development requires him to also attend to the peace building agenda of the municipality, she explained.
The adviser is involved in both quick reaction to skirmishes and misunderstanding and proactive peace building efforts, she said, adding there has been no escalation of hostilities owing to such efforts.

Candolada said Tulunan, a municipality of 60,000, is affected by conflicts of various shades.

Tulunan has been the site of the first peace zones in Mindanao since the mid-1980s. Now implemented in at least four sitios, these zones have become rays of hope amid a situation of conflict.

But Candolada said managing the peace zones has become a headache for her administration, adding more focus and a harder push was needed.

She said that while they are sure the military is respecting the integrity of the peace zones they could not say the same of the rebels. She noted, however, that the rebels are also residents of the peace zones. 

The military has considered the peace zones as a protection for the NPAs.
Armed groups – military and rebel groups – are supposedly banned from entering peace zones.

But Candolada admitted that Tulunan has 500 CAFGUs spread in 11 detachments.

She also said the NPA and the military are engaged in “agawan ng masa” or battle for the people’s “hearts and minds”.

Candolada further admitted that “sometimes after the dialogue, we don’t really solve the problems, but oftentimes it lightens our heart”.
She said they do not actually have a clear system or fixed formula on how to implement their peace agenda.
”But we respond accordingly; there is a mix of offensive and diplomatic sense,” she said adding, they are guided by the national peace agenda.

“We treat every conflict as different, and so we use different strategies to address each of them,” she said.  

Following the path to peace also means meeting many challenges, she said. She admitted that sometimes they need to remind some of their officials who tend to cover up the acts of some of their constituents and end up compromising state policies.

But she said they have to trust them. 

“We give them trust and really trust them that they are empowered people. If we don’t, they don’t feel good and become ineffective in serving the people,” she said.

Candolada said their trust means they have to be “flexible but firm” in the dialogue with their constituents, many of whom are “masa” (supporters) of the left.

“We encouraged participation and promotion of dialogue,” she said.

The mayor thanked local organizations like Balay Mindanaw and international non-government organizations that provide not only material support but also capability-building assistance.

“They have helped build our capacity and resolve to support peace,” she told the training participants.

Among the participants was 1Lt. Erikzen Dacoco, of the 57th infantry battalion based in Tulunan.

Candolada said that the municipal government may be able to articulate its vision for peace for Tulunan but that it does not mean they are winning peace.

“I have no monopoly of knowledge. We can’t carry all the brunt to solve the conflicts, we need each other’s help,” she said.

She said there have been proposals to lift the declaration of peace zones to eliminate the complications.

But she said she did not support it. She preferred that the peace zones refocus and strengthen the peace zone councils.

“It’s difficult to veer away from the process. It has been agreed and declared; it is difficult to take it off. We go for peaceful coexistence,” she said.
With the focal person, Candolada said they have so far achieved some targets.
She said their proactive efforts include holding value formation sessions to help unite tri-people communities in the town. 

The mayor said she hopes other towns would put their own effort in peace building, as they can learn from Tulunan’s experiences.
In I987, the town was “infested’ by the NPA with 80 percent of residents considered rebel supporters and it became a killing zone, she said.

With the effort of Commissioner Haydee Yorac, of the National Unification Commission, the town was declared a peace zone via an executive order. The rationale then, Candolada said, was to avoid further displacement of civilians. She said the peace zones received millions of pesos in livelihood projects but  the funds were mismanaged.

She said she had been accused of being pro-military but she insisted she is the mayor of all her constituents.

She said they are taking pains in pushing their peace agenda despite the odds.

For lasting peace in Tulunan, she said, they needed all the opportunities for dialogue and the compassion of their leaders for non-violence.

 “On the humanitarian side, as much as possible nobody should die. We should no longer see children’s lives lost because of the conflict,” she said. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)

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