At AFP Centcom Issues of sustainability in CMDR areas raised

CEBU, Philippines - After several towns in Samar were declared, one after the other, as conflict manageable and development ready areas, civil society groups of the Bantay Bayanihan-Samar have looked into the parameters of such declarations and their sustainability.

BB-Samar in a presentation made for the IPSP Campaign Briefing at the AFP Central Command in Cebu City the other day, pointed out that concrete policies should first be established to assure communities of the CMDR's sustainability.

One example cited was the case of Jiabong town in Samar, which was declared CMDR area last week but without the presence of its mayor and that the memorandum of understanding for the purpose was signed by the vice mayor.

According to Marvin Añonuevo, of the National Alliance of Chaplains in the Philippines (NACPHIL-Samar), a member of the BB-Samar network, the CMDR declaration would be futile because the mayor himself should "wholeheartedly accept such declarations, and it is going to be the mayor's duty to sustain what had been started out by the military in making the town a CMDR area."

Añonuevo said, "This is apparently a sign of paper compliance, and that the BB-Samar should look into other MOUs and countercheck their parameters." He also suggested a stakeholder's participation in the crafting of the parameters as basis in declaring communities as CMDR.

The BB-Samar likewise revealed that the civil society's observation on issues relative to the sustainability of such declarations was seconded by military officers themselves, who admitted that there have been no specific policies governing the post-declaration of these supposedly CMDR communities.

Añonuevo said declaring these areas as CMDR would mean that the LGU is already capable of managing its peace and development agenda with less intervention from the AFP.

He however said there is something not right in the parameters, because the root causes of insurgency seems to be not part of the basis or parameters.

The BB-Samar presentation at CentCom cited the recent declaration of Negros Oriental as CMDR area, but which was followed by the pullout of the 79th Infantry Brigade troops and replaced by the 20th IB from Samar.

The pullout may have confirmed the CMDR status, but the entry of the 20th IB raised questions instead on such declaration.

"Why on earth you will withdraw a battalion of soldiers from a conflict area and placed them in an already declared conflict manageable area, we cannot see the logic, it just doesn't make sense", Añonuevo said during the BB-Samar presentation to the military officials at the CentCom conference.

"Several towns have been declared conflict manageable and development ready communities, but we believe there are issues that should be resolved first, otherwise all of these efforts will turn to nothing," he added.