‘Project Good Life’ boosts peacebuilding

The Marcos’ administration’s “Project Good Life for Friends Rescued” is helping the government sustain its peacebuilding efforts by providing multi-faceted opportunities to former rebels, according to the Office of the Press Secretary.

Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict presented the progress of “Project Good Life for Friends Rescued,” its deradicalization and reintegration program for communist terrorist groups or former New People’s Army members, during a forum in Zamboanga City earlier this week, an OPS statement said on Friday.

The ZDS PTF-ELCAC bares the success of a project for rebel returnees.

The said project supported by national agencies provided former rebels who are now with the 53rd Infantry Battalion a new life, the OPS said.

Under the project, ex-rebels are encouraged to participate in different “Good Life” curriculums for one year to improve their overall well-being and teach them livelihood skills to contribute to economic growth.

So far, the project has graduated its first batch, composed of 41 “friends rescued” and is currently “changing” the lives of 50 more former rebels for its second batch, the OPS said.

National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos emphasized the importance of peacebuilding for economic growth during the same forum.

“The magic word really is to ‘sustain’ it, because no economic growth will happen, whenever there is no peace and order,” the OPS quoted Carlos as saying.