After 17 years of humps and bumps in the peace process between the government and the Rebolusyunaryong Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), it finally came to an end with the awarding of a tenurial instrument to the group that persevered to make this happen.
In an interview late Monday, Kapatiran (formerly RPA-ABB) national board of director Veronica Tabara said the group did not mind the long years of waiting because they firmly believe government was sincere enough in finding lasting peace.
She considered the awarding of the tenurial instrument as a historic event for the group, an inspiration and a source of strength for the other members of the organization, all over Negros Island Region and all over Visayas.
Under the agreement, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has the authority and jurisdiction of the forest land to be included in the Community Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA), including the implementation of the land use plan, protection, rehabilitation and sustainable resource utilization.
It includes the obligation of the Community Based Forest Management Agreement holder to assume responsibility for the protection of the remaining forest within the area against illegal logging and unauthorized extraction of forest products, slash and burn agriculture, kaingon, grassland fires and other forms of forest destruction following existing rules and regulations pertinent to forest management.
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) undersecretary for peace accords cluster Atty. Nabil Tan and the DENR turned over on July 21, 2017 the tenurial instrument under the Community Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) with a total land area of 267.93 hectares situated in the timberland areas of Sibulan, Amlan and Tanjay City to the Kapatiran Para sa Progresong Panlipunan Inc., Negros Oriental chapter, formerly known as the RPA/ABB, represented by Veronica Tabara.
She is the wife of RPA/ABB founder Arturo Tabara and currently national board of director.
According to Usec Tan, what is important in the peace agreement is the peace dividend, it should not be all talks and so the tenurial instrument-CBFMA will now be the base settlement or peace and development communities of Kapatiran.
He lauded the Kapatiran group for going through the challenges for the interest of all their children and the future generation in stressing they’re not fighting anymore for their interest but for the interest of others. The peace process with the RPA/ABB is a carry over of at least five former presidents since 2000.
The closure package has several components, including housing, livelihood, infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges, farm to market roads under the PANAMA project, water works system, multipurpose centers, even cattle and goat dispersal programs worth millions of pesos.
During the same event, DENR also turned over another tenurial instrument to the Buenavista Farm Family Association in Sta. Catalina represented by Ed Gumadlas and Victor Rebutazo with a total land area of 2,393.51 hectares.
Sta. Catalina has always been a conflict area and that part of the main mandate of OPAPP is to look into conflict areas, one of which is barangay Buenavista. (Juancho Gallarde/PNA)
