National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday stressed that he has taken a hard line position only against armed rebellion and not on Communism, as he rallied Western Visayas leaders to do their share in helping end what he called the “festering menace of armed rebellion.”

Gonzales was in Bacolod City to speak at a two-day Local Peace and Security Assembly for Western Visayas at Planta Centro Bacolod Hotel, attended by local government and sectoral leaders in the region.

The LPSAs are being conducted throughout  the country as part of the effort of President Gloria Arroyo to involve the different stakeholders  in coming up with approaches to resolve the insurgency problem  other than by military means alone, participants were told.

The campaign to resolve the insurgency and terrorism is a shared responsibility, a battery of speakers at the assembly also told the participants.

The outcome of the workshops at the assembly will be presented to Arroyo who will attend the assembly 11:30 a.m. today.

Gonzales said the Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial yesterday said that he was the cause of human right violations in the Philippines, “It is up to you whether to listen to the Inquirer,” he said.

“We are not waging a fight against Communists. In an environment of democracy we are not opposed to communism, what we are focusing against is violence through armed struggle in propagating their cause,” he said.

“It’s not about Communists, it’s about armed struggle…There should be no armed rebellion in the Philippines,” he said.

“We believe all political groups, persuasions, ideologies should have the freedom to express their views, reach out to people and be elected into office because that is the procedure in a democracy, but to coerce us to become Communists is something else,” he said.

Using the military to end the armed struggle is not the government’s only approach, we are open to dialog and all possibilities, he said. At the end of a  peace process should be agreeing to giving up of the armed struggle, he said.

The solution anywhere in the world has always been political, he said, as he stressed the role of local government officials in helping solve the insurgency by delivering services to the people and addressing poverty.

Gonzales rallied local officials to think first world to bring progress needed to end poverty, injustice and inequality that he said are products of third world nations.

“We must shift our thinking about the kind of nation we want to be by working for change,” he said.

“We believe success will be in terms of armed groups wanting to go back to normal life,” he said.

The president has released P100 million for reintegration programs for rebels granted amnesty and is prepared to release at least P500 million for now, he said.

He said the 2010 target to end the insurgency is succeeding and attainable but it will not be achieved by purely military means.

The campaign plan to end the insurgency will be subjected to periodic reviews, he also said.

“We will review the plan to refine some points intensify certain areas,” he said.

Asked if Negros was a counter insurgency priority area, Gonzales said that government was not thinking in terms of priority but in terms of equal concern for the entire nation, but definitely Negros will not be neglected.

FEDERALISM

Meanwhile, Gonzales said some people express their love of country by being angry instead of looking at problems and finding solutions.

One of the biggest problems of the nation is politics, he said, where people end up being very destructive instead of being in harmony.

Our nation is in a mess despite the quality of the new leaders that we have, he lamented.

Gonzales, in his speech batted for a shift towards a federal form of government to acknowledge the souls and strengths of the different regions in moving the country forward.

It would be the height of irresponsibility not to go for fundamental change by reducing the matter to suspecting that it is being done because the president wants to extend her term of office, he said.

“Federalism is a thing we should start taking about,” he said.

But at a press conference, he said, the move towards federalism was his personal stand, “There is nothing official yet, I don’t know how far Senator (Aquilino) Pimentel would want to push this initiative.”

ENVIRONMENT

Gonzales also encouraged participants at the assembly to work for the protection of the environment. He said the country’s natural resources are among the best in the world, it would be foolish to lose this by misguided development programs. It is up to the people of Western Visayas to protect their environment,” he said.*CPG

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