by Rene V. Carbayas
ISABELA CITY, Basilan, June 3 (PIA) – Newly
installed 104th Brigade Commander Col. Arthur P. Ang promised to
uphold human rights in its campaign to win the peace in the Province of
Basilan.
During the change of command ceremony last
May 28 at the army headquarters in Tabiawan, Isabela City in Basilan, Col. Ang
explained that he will be guided by the Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP)
Bayanihan principle of winning the
peace in Basilan.
He cited two strategic approaches in
explaining his point. “First, by the whole nation approach, which means I’ll be
enlisting the support of all sectors, of all stakeholders—an admission that
through military alone, we will not be able to win the peace in this part of
the country,” he said. He told stakeholders present, who were from government,
non-government, private and local government sectors to expect that he will be
meeting with them including civilian sectors for help in order to attain the
very elusive peace and development in Basilan.
The other approach, he said is human security
approach, “a broad concept that encompasses a wide spectrum that includes
freedom, security from health diseases, food security, and including freedom of
movement, protection of the people in performing their culture, and others.”
“With that, we will respect human rights. We
will be the number one advocate of human rights. We will win the peace here in
Basilan without necessarily violating human rights, that, I will promise you,”
he stressed.
Ang recalled that in the past, the military
had the kind of stigma, “we were demonized, and tagged as number one human
rights violators. That is not true, and I am here to prove to you that we are
the number one advocate of human rights.”
With these two strategic concepts, the new
Brigade Commander shared that he will do this by supporting the ongoing peace
talks first.
“In the early 80’s I was here in Zamboanga
and Basilan and now am back here with the same mission of winning the peace. So
we are already tired of fighting. This is the high time that we forget the animosities
we have among our brothers here in Basilan who opted to use arms in achieving
their political goals. I guess it is high time that we talk about peace and
development and forget arm struggle. The use of force will be at the back
corner, to be used only when necessary to threat groups who use arms to attain
their goals,” he said.
Col. Ang had swapped places with Col. Ricardo
Visaya who will be assigned as 901st Brigade Commander in Daraga,
Albay. Ang said that he felt no stranger in coming to Basilan because of the
warm welcome afforded to him by Col. Visaya and his troops that made him feel a
member of the 104th Brigade.
In his farewell speech, Col. Visaya recalled
that the 104th Brigade found its home in Basilan after the Al-Barka
incident in October last year. Since that time, he said “almost every day we
always think of what we can do here in Basilan. Often when we take our meals,
we also discuss our plans because we always want to be part of making Basilan a
very peaceful place to live in.”
“As good soldiers, we have to accept without
question the order from higher headquarters,” he said, as he bid goodbye and
thanked the governor, mayors, civilian friends, and the media for the privilege
to have served them.