Peace Caravan for the Visayas launched

CEBU CITY – The Armed Forces’ Central Command (Centcom) and the Multi-Sector Advisory Board (MSAB) launched the Local Initiative for Peace and Development (LIPAD) in the Visayas to complement the military’s Development Support and Security Plan (DSSP)Kapayapaan.

Col. Medel Aguilar, Centcom public information officer, told members of the MSAB the plan sets up the security framework in communities that have been declared peaceful and ready for development.

Aguilar said the plan scrutinizes the roles of local executives, national government agencies, the police and barangay residents in addressing the insurgency being mounted by the New People’s Army (NPA).

This is the main thrust of the Peace Caravan, he said.

Aguilar pointed to three basic issues that allow insurgency to take root in the countryside– poverty, injustice and illiteracy.

“In most cases, land ownership problem especially in land reform and government land areas are the main cause of countryside land revolution,” he said.

MSAB and Centcom introduced LIPAD in the Visayas as reforms on good governance through public-private partnerships and other stakeholders.

The Peace Caravans are a vehicle for providing government services and information campaign in indigent, insurgency affected, threatened or infiltrated barangays, Aguilar said.

LIPAD-Visayas was launched in Negros Oriental in July.

The next caravan will be held in September in Eastern Visayas, where insurgency remains a major problem, Aguilar said.