BY SECRETARY CARLITO G. GALVEZ, JR.
PEACE BY PEACE
(Part 1)
As we celebrated this year’s Mindanao Week of Peace, I traveled across the island region last week to hold dialogues with our peace partners and launch programs to further promote the culture of peace, mutual understanding, and dialogue in the region.
I had an interesting conversation with Agusan del Sur Governor Santiago Cane, Jr. when I visited his beautiful province. As we sat at his office, the first thing he asked me was, “Secretary, have you seen the holiest and most luxurious road in the country?”
I tried to recall all the roads I’ve passed through in the country over the years. I’ve perhaps traversed all the major thoroughfares in the Philippines but I couldn’t remember setting foot on what he described as a ‘holy’ or ‘luxurious’ road.
Then with a big smile, the governor explained, “What I meant was, ‘hole-iest’ and ‘lukso-rious’ road.” By holy he meant full of holes, and by luxurious he was referring to lukso, a Filipino word for jumping – or in this case, one’s body literally jumping up in the air when passing through the potholed highway.
According to the governor, the poor state of Agusan del Sur’s infrastructure, particularly its road network, has pushed back the area’s development for decades. He shared that it was only during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term that this concern was finally addressed.
And so, we made a commitment to him right then and there that we would be allotting around ₱210 million in funds under OPAPRU’s Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) Program to have the NRJ (Veruela) - Limot - Candiis - Davao de Oro Boundary Road rehabilitated in 2025. This road project will traverse NTF-ELCAC recommended areas — communities that have been cleared from insurgency but are still confronting the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment.
The good governor and I agree that good infrastructure and mobility networks drive economic growth and progress. Under the dynamic leadership of the province’s top executive, we have no doubt that Agusan del Sur will soon emerge as a leading agricultural and food production “hub” not only in the CARAGA region but in the whole of Mindanao.
As we were about to end our meeting, the governor pointed to a picture where he was standing shoulder to shoulder with top political figures of Agusan del Sur. He then exclaimed: “Here in Agusan del Sur, we are all united. We work as one with the district and regional representatives.” I told the governor that I couldn’t agree more.
On the same day, I, together with the governor and other military and provincial officials, inaugurated Agusan del Sur’s Kalinow Peace Center, a facility to be operated by the provincial government. It will serve as the ‘nerve center’ for all its peacebuilding and development interventions in the province. Because we all believe that ‘peace is the fundamental foundation of prosperity.’
The establishment of the Peace Center is a major milestone in the province’s quest to end the decades-long communist insurgency in the area. It symbolizes the national and Agusan del Sur provincial governments’ steadfast commitment to bring genuine peace and development to the people.
With the ₱8 million funds provided to the Agusan del Sur provincial government, the Peace Center will implement initiatives to support the transformation of former rebels (FRs) such as deradicalization programs, localized peace engagements, and livelihood projects.
In a powerful speech delivered by Gov. Cane during the center’s launching ceremony, he lauded and thanked 64 FRs who on that day made their oath of allegiance to the nation for “giving peace and development a chance to return here in the province.”
I was also moved by the testimony of Jonah Cossma Jumagpas, an FR who now works for the Agusan del Sur provincial government. She said the establishment of the peace center is a major step for the province in “creating a better and brighter future for former rebels like her.”
In my remarks during the program, I underscored the significance of the peace center, saying that it is not a mere facility but a collective effort to further strengthen and build on the gains of peace in the province.
(Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. is the presidential adviser on peace, reconciliation, and unity.)
