Impact of ECOZONE on the Security of MaKiMa

Speech of LtCol Edgardo Yao De Leon

Battalion Commander, 73rd Infantry Battalion

during the

Congressional Public Hearing on Special Economic Zone 

Kiamba, Sarangani Province, September 3, 2009

The Distinguished members of the House Committee on Economic Affairs, good morning.  It has been a year since our battalion was redeployed to Sarangani Province from Davao del Norte in response to the atrocities committed by lawless MILF Group (LMG) that intruded the province late last year. The series of military operations effectively diminished the LMGs capability to launch further atrocity and drove them out of the province after army units successfully seized their encampments and strongholds in Maasim, Kiamba, and Maitum. The last major engagement was the 2-day skirmishes on September 12 and 13 last year wherein their main camp called Camp Khalid bin Walid was seized by our troops. Mopping up operations continue resulting to minor engagements with their remnants in the hinterlands. In those operations, we have seized firearms, discovered and dugged out their pre-positioned logistics, and captured their leaders.  For now, our efforts are focused on the promotion of a culture of peace among the tri-people of Sarangani in partnership with the local government units and NGOs. 9-man teams immerse the conflict-affected brgys, mingle with the people, exerting efforts to win the people’s hearts and minds and trying our best to determine what motivated the local people to support, if not join, the rebels.   Our troops went house to house to get the sentiments of the people in conflict-affected bgys, particularly in the Municipality of Maasim, where we discovered their main camp. The following were the significant findings, as motivating factors for rebellion, among others:

• The present sources of income of rural folks are not enough to earn a decent living. 
• Out-of-school youths have joined the rebels. Financial difficulty as the main reason for parents to stop sending their children to school, especially after elementary education. 
• Non-muslim lumads sympathize with the rebels. Most of them eat less than 3 meals a day. During conflicts, they swarm evacuation centers to join the prey for relief goods, even if they are far from the conflict-affected areas. They opt to stay long even after the conflicts not because of fear, but because of the available relief goods.  

With this situation, the local government makes the necessary intervention. We have been bringing to the MLGU and the PLGU these concerns and they have been very supportive. However, the problem persists, not because the local government units are not cognizant, but because of budgetary and resource limitations. Similarly situated with the households, the income of the local government units are not enough to deliver services that will somehow satisfy the needs of their constituents. Hence, hard for them to address the plight of the people, the condition that is exploited by rebel groups to gain adherents from among the local people.  This reality proves the point that security and economic development are inseparable. Yes, for the past 12 months, our deployment in the province helped bring back to normalcy the peace and order situation. The question we have to answer however is, how to sustain the relative peace that we are in now, if the motivating factors for rebellion remain. The local government has to take aggressive move to address the roots of rebellion. But with limited resources brought about by low revenues, the local government units are having difficulty addressing them. If Sarangani Ecozone will push through, as I understand it based on my initial readings of the project, economic activity will increase, eventually raising the income of the constituents, as well as providing more revenues to the local government units.   If Sarangani Ecozone will push through, the people of Sarangani, particularly MaKiMa, will be preoccupied with doing business and participating in whatever opportunity to earn a living, instead of being dependent on government, and take up arms against the supposed providers whenever dissatisfaction arises.  If Sarangani Ecozone will push through, the provincial and municipal governments units would not solely be reliant from the limited IRA provided by the national government. With projected locally-generated revenues, the LGUs would be empowered to deliver quality social services and would be able to fully perform their functions that were devolved from the national government.  Hence, we in the security sector are optimistic that if Sarangani Ecozone will push through, the people will be economically empowered and LGUs would better off to provide good governance, both which are essential elements for SUSTAINABLE PEACE AND SECURITY IN THE PROVINCE.  So therefore, the 73^rd Infantry Battalion, as the AFP representative in the province, joins the people of Sarangani in appealing from the Honorable Members of this Committee for support to the creation of the Sarangani Economic Zone.  Thank you and Good Day.

Note: The public hearing was presided by Congressman Ramon “Red” Durano VI, Chairperson of the Committee on Economic Affairs, House of Representatives. Other congressmen present were Hon. Marc Douglas Cagas IV of Davao del Sur, Hon Jesus Crispin Remulla of Cavite, Hon Antonio Lagdameo of Davao del Norte, and Hon Ronald Singson of Ilocos Sur. Among the speakers during the public hearing were Gov Miguel Rene Dominguez of Sarangani Province and representatives from the different sectors of the province. The members of the House Committee were convinced and pledged to support the enactment of the law establishing the Special Economic Zone in Sarangani.