Ardo tells soldiers to pursue peace in Mindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Outgoing Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Rey Ardo on Wednesday bade the personnel of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division an emotional goodbye, telling them that the Southern Moro conflict cannot be addressed by guns and bullets alone.

Ardo, who is to retire from the military service on November 9, 2013, was commanding general of the 6th ID prior to his assumption as Westmincom commander last year.

“The Mindanao problem is best addressed through diplomatic, `convergence-type resolution,’ an approach that has to involve all sectors. It cannot be won by guns and bullets alone,” Ardo said.

Ardo also called on soldiers of the 6th ID, now under Major Gen. Romeo Gapuz, to continue pursuing peace in resolving security problems in Moro areas through traditional conflict-resolution practices.

Ardo, who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1981, said soldiers also have to learn more about the impact of conflicts to the economy of fledgling Southern Mindanao communities, whose residents have been experiencing under development due to nagging “very complicated” security constraints. 

“We have seen how the three-week siege in Zamboanga City affected badly the economy in the area, in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. Without good economy and political stability, lasting peace will remain as elusive as ever,” Ardo said.

He also called on Nur Misuari, founder of the Moro National Liberation Front, to honor the September 2, 1996 government-MNLF peace accord.

“All peace and security problems can be resolved through negotiations, on the negotiating table,”

The rank-and-file personnel of the 6th ID conducted at Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao Wednesday afternoon an “honor parade” for Ardo, in recognition of his activities complementing Malacañang’s peace overtures with local Moro sectors.

There has never been a single encounter between forces of the 6th ID and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Central Mindanao the past two years, a feat which local folks attribute to the division and the MILF’s strict compliance with the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities.

Ardo, while 6th ID commander, was active in various peace-building projects that helped in the recovery of flashpoint areas in Central Mindanao, where the MILF has about 50 enclaves, including its main stronghold, Camp Darapanan, in Sultan Kudarat town in the first district of Maguindanao.

Ardo even reached out to members of Central Mindanao’s secular Darul Iftah,also known as Islamic House of Opinions, by visiting them at their houses during the 2012 Ramadhan fasting season, as part of the 6th ID’s confidence-building measures with Muslim religious communities.