INTERNATIONAL Human Rights Day, December 10, becomes even more meaningful to the Boholano Kauban sa Reporma (KRs) as the provincial government opens a 50 hectare resettlement site for them to finally own lands in their efforts to be in the mainstream.
On the same day when the United Nations pushed for the adoption of the Universal Declaration on the Human Rights after the vicious attack on Pearl Harbor was retaliated with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the war cause the death of multitude of innocent civilians.
With the Philippines as one leading signatory to the declaration, it also vows to advance the cause of rights protection, premier of which is taking alternatives to rebels who decide to go the way to peace.
Then popularly called Kanhi Rebelde, Bohol’s KRs now name their new haven Kalayaan Resettlement which would be their new home after finally giving up the fight against the government.
With the office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the office of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Provincial government has allocated hectares of farm lots and residential areas to finally afford KRs a decent living while partnering with government in development.
Now made even more ideal with some members of the resettlement as non-rebels, the Kalayaan resettlement site puts in the governments social integration component, explains an OPAPP functionary who came to Bohol recently.
How could former rebels really assimilate ordinary life when they would be resettled in a land occupied by former comrades who used to think alike? asked a member of the Provincial Peace and Order Council in an interview.
We proposed for the integration with a real community where former warriors now live side by side with ordinary civilians to be able to make them adjust better to the real world, he added. (PIA)
