The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process yesterday confirmed that the signing of the closure to the peace agreement between the government and the Tabara-Paduano Group (TPG) of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas-Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade is targeted for April this year.

OPAPP Undersecretary Luisito Montalbo, head of the government panel in the talks with the TPG, yesterday said he could not say yet if the signing would be in Negros or in Malacañang.

The closure is a target of the Aquino administration so the next president does not inherit an open-ended peace process, he said, noting that the aim to end the peace agreement with the RPA-ABB has been ongoing for more than 10 years.

Disarmament of the RPA-ABB forces will be very important to the closure of the agreement and a phasing is being determined, he said.

There are about 700 members of the RPM-P/RPA-ABB in Negros Occidental and Oriental, Panay and a few in Mindanao and Manila, he said.

Most of the 476 are in Negros Occidental, Montalbo added.

The government and the TPG panels held a three-day joint writeshop in Bacolod City on the drafting of their closure agreement that ended yesterday, he said.

Attended by representatives from the local government units of Negros and officials from the security sector, the writeshop ended with a clearer view of the form and contents of the draft closure agreement as both parties have leveled off on definitions and expectations, he said.

The parties have agreed on the objectives, principles and components for inclusion in the draft, he said, without elaborating.

Emerging components are all geared towards the institutional transformation of the RPMP-RPA-ABB from an armed group into a legal political organization and at the individual and community level, the economic integration and social support for former combatants as they return to communities, he said.

Aspects of the implementation mechanisms and corresponding timelines were also laid out, he said.

“These three days have been very productive. I thank our local government partners for actively participating in the whole process. It affirms that a convergence design can work, and that when stakeholders are engaged early on, the prospects of closure with RPMP-RPA-ABB are even more viable and sustainable,” Montalbo said.

Joining Montalbo as government panel members are Col. Dickson Hermoso of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Peace Process Office, Assistant Secretary Anselmo Abungan of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Joemer Aquino of the OPAPP Legal Security Unit.

The government and the RPMP-RPA-ABB forged a peace agreement in 2000 during the term of President Joseph Estrada. In 2007, RPMP-RPA-ABB split into two factions, TPG and the Nilo Dela Cruz Group (NDCG).

A separate negotiating table with the NDCG is also underway, with the help of NAPC Secretary Eliseo Rocamora, Montalbo said.

He said the government had appropriated P31 million for livelihood and development programs in TPG identified communities in Negros Island, P25 million of which will go to the Occidental side.

An additional P91 million for livelihood and infrastructure projects in Negros Occidental will also be released after the suitability of projects for identified communities and beneficiaries are validated by both parties.

The money will be released to local government units for implementation of projects, and not directly to the RPM-P/RPA-ABB, he said.*CPG

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