The Philippines have suffered enough from the continuing armed and violent confrontations in many parts of our country.
From 1973 to 1992, the death toll reached 55, 471 – soldiers, government officials, rebels and innocent civilians. About 33, 709 have been wounded. And 1, 832 are missing.
Some 1.5 Million people have experienced displacement in the course of more than two decades of armed conflict. They were ordinary peasants, tribal and marginal Filipinos who were all the more deprived of their sources of livelihood; children, who died of diseases, were orphaned, and deprived of education because of fighting.
Damage to crops and properties since 1982 and has already been estimated P1.38 Billion.
Furthermore, the government has had to spend billions in operations to maintain peace and order throughout the country under the environment of armed internal conflicts. Perhaps, if only half of this could have been spent on the development and livelihood programs, our country might in a much better state today.
We could have already paid our debts.
We could have built more schools and health concerns.
We could have had more funds for land reform and mass housing. Our government employees and workers could have had more decent pay. We could have set up more power generators and would not have had to endure long brownouts, more farms to market roads, more school buildings especially to remote areas in the Philippines, and could have built infrastructure to prevent pestering floods during heavy typhoons and natural disasters.
Today, a rifle bullet costs average of P25 or higher. The cost of a 25 bullets could thus be enough for a day’s budget for 2 average families.
As the armed confrontations rage on, attaining progress becomes an ever more difficult task. Our country will be doomed to poverty, and will forever be at the tail-end of our fast-developing Asian neighbors.
The contending parties claim they are fighting for the sake of our country and people. Yet, it is our country and people as a whole who eventually suffer the most as the conflict goes on.
For so long time we have longed and aspired for peace. But even if there are many difficult obstacles, our dream of a genuine, just and lasting peace is not unattainable. If we are united, nothing is impossible. The peace that we all desire is within reach.
Our people’s involvement is the key to the attainment of a genuine, just and lasting peace. Those involved in the conflict agree that the peace process cannot prosper unless it is anchored on the involvement and participation of all sectors of society.
A peace process should be community-based, reflecting the sentiments, values and principles important to all Filipinos. It shall not be defined by government alone, nor by the contending armed groups, but by all Filipinos as one community.
It is the goal of the peace process to establish a just, equitable, humane and pluralistic society. It is aimed at peacefully resolving and ending the armed conflict, with neither blame nor surrender but with dignity for all concerned.
Come then and let us march on the road to peace. Let us start now. Let us all participate. Let us enlighten ourselves on the issues, and realize how we can contribute towards the attainment of PEACE.
