'Peace havens' eyed in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines - North Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza proposed yesterday the creation of “peace havens” in Mindanao to lessen potential armed conflicts on the strife-torn island.

“Communities as small as a sitio, or as large as a barangay, or even a whole town can declare themselves peace sanctuaries – totally free of people carrying weapons – and discourage in a big way the threat of hostilities in their areas,” she said.

She said she hopes that the government and rebel groups in Mindanao will resume peace negotiations soon.

“However, with or without any peace talks at the top, there are other ways for us to build peace at the community level. We’ve always believed that grassroots-based peace initiatives by the communities themselves tend to be more durable in terms of diminishing potential skirmishes,” she said.

Taliño-Mendoza cited the previous initiative of the B’laans, Maguindanaoans and Christian settlers at the tri-boundary of Cotabato (formerly North Cotabato), Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat to forge a community peace agreement (CPA).

She said the CPA covered nine barangays straddling the boundaries of the towns of Tulunan, Cotabato; Datu Paglas, Maguindanao; and Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.

The area became the “Tri-boundary Sanctuary of Peace and Development,” looked after by a community-based coordinating council.