Army’s 7th ID leads peace trek in Nueva Ecija

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Palayan City — Peace advocates in Central Luzon subjected themselves to their own version of Lenten penitence by scaling this military camp’s tallest mountain.

In a grueling "Trek for Peace," the peace crusaders, led by Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, commanding general of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division (7th ID), negotiated the steep curves and hills of the Taklang Damulag (giant carabao) mountain in this military reservation last Tuesday.

The mountain is the highest peak in the 2,000-hectare cantonment area of the reservation. It is 370 meters above sea level.

After reaching the summit, the trekkers feasted on hard-boiled eggs, bananas and peanuts. They then echoed hopes for the success of the coming peace talks between the Arroyo government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the peaceful and orderly conduct of the May 14 elections.

Carolina said prospects of an orderly election in Central Luzon are bright despite the tagging of at least 303 barangays as "areas of concern."

He said the mountain trek was a symbolic activity signifying the 7th ID’s support for the peace process which got a big boost with the release of Army Maj. Noel Buan last week.

"We believe that the time to talk peace is now, for this time may never happen again," he said during a short program.

Carolina said the peace trek was not mere propaganda but dramatized the need for a continuing peace advocacy program down to the community level.

He said 7th ID units will undergo a seminar-workshop to craft a peace agenda which his men will carry out to build a culture of peace in their areas of jurisdiction — the whole of Central Luzon, Aurora and Pangasinan.

"As members of the Armed Forces, we are the first to abhor war, for in war, nobody is a winner," he said.

Among the trek’s participants were Senior Superintendent Raul Bacalzo, provincial police director; Fr. Herminio Cipriano of the Ecumenical Joint Action Forum for Peace (Ecija for Peace), National Food Authority (NFA) provincial manager Marciano Alvarez and Relly Fajardo of the Greenscouts Movement.