‘Peace zone’ eyed at North Cotabato-Kudarat border

COTABATO CITY — Local officials are keen on converting a dozen communities at the boundary of Tulunan, North Cotabato and Columbio, Sultan Kudarat into a "peace zone" to prevent the return of combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Pentagon kidnapping gang, which the military drove away from the area after four days of fighting last week.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said villagers displaced in the hostilities are clamoring for the immediate declaration of their adjoining villages into a "peace zone" to prevent another build-up of rebel forces in the area.

Piñol said provincial planners would have to study first a scheme, involving the peace panels of the MILF and the government, in converting the affected communities into a peace zone.

He said Sultan Kudarat Gov. Pax Mangudadatu will also be involved in the process since more than half of the area where military and MILF forces had clashed, is within the jurisdiction of Columbio town.

Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza, chairman of the government peace panel, said he is ready to help identify common socio-economic projects involving both Muslim and Christian residents to boost efforts to transform the communities into a viable peace zone.

"This is the kind of peace and development venture that President Arroyo is ready to support and sustain. What is essential here is the involvement of the military, the rebels, the Muslim and Christian residents and cause-oriented and non-government organizations in fostering peace in the area," Dureza told The STAR.

Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers have been patrolling Barangay Polomolok in Columbio and nearby villages in Tulunan, North Cotabato to ensure the safety of evacuees now returning to their homes.

Army-MILF skirmishes erupted last Wednesday when combined MILF and Pentagon members opened fire on soldiers sent there to verify reports from farmers about the presence of armed men roaming around their farms and collecting "revolutionary taxes."

Elements of the 6th ID and the 301st and 602nd Brigades had totally cleared Barangay Polomolok and surrounding villages of MILF guerrillas after the hostilities, which left 28 rebels dead and at least 17 other people wounded.

Senga said the 6th ID is prepared to help Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato officials convert Barangay Polomolok and the neighboring communities into a peace zone.

Senga said the 6th ID can deploy its Sallam (peace) units, composed of Muslim soldiers, some of them Islamic theologians, to Barangay Polomolok to carry out community-based projects to complement the low-level peace initiatives of local leaders.