Colonel Nonato Alfredo Peralta, Jr.
Interview with the Commander of the 403rd Brigade “The PeaceMakers”, stationed in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Mindanao Island.
Michael Turner: Where was your previous assignment?
Colonel Peralta: My last assignment was as Task Force Commander of Task Force Zamboanga.
Michael Turner: How do you find your new assignment?
Colonel Peralta: It’s a very good unit. Professionalism is being observed here. I also noticed that human right is well-observed here. That’s why our soldiers, even the lowest ranked, they are good observers of human rights.
Michael Turner: Does the area of the 403rd brigade cover only Bukidnon?
Colonel Peralta:That is our base in Malaybalay. But the areas covered by the 403rd brigade include Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, and 2 municipalities of Lanao del Sur.
Michael Turner: These are areas where there have been reported activities of the New People’s Army. As a matter of fact, most of the youths with engagements with the New People’s Army surrendered from the NPA. Why is this?
Colonel Peralta: I’d like to delve on 2 things of those that you mentioned. Engagements with the NPA. I’d like to clarify that all these engagements are not intended to destroy, or to kill. The real purpose is to generate a lot of pressure. Because if there’s a lot of pressure, our brothers there in the fields will be pressed, pushed to go down. We really want them to come down that’s why we have the Social Integration Program of the government.
Michael Turner: So it’s more of a preventive measure so that they could not do their thing in the countryside? As a matter of fact, this might encourage them to go back to the folds of the government, right?
Colonel Peralta: Yes. That’s one. It’s preventive. And the other thing is, if you come to think of it, it’s really being sincere about the counterinsurgency campaign.
Michael Turner: There has been a major change in the way the Philippine Army is addressing the insurgency problem. In the previous months, you’ve had medical missions and you’ve strengthened your P.R. unit. What about social integration? I’ve heard of this but I don’t really understand it. What is this all about?
Colonel Peralta: Surrender and social integration are quite different. When there are 2 fighting forces, and one is being infiltrated; that is an example of a surrender situation. Social integration is to encourage our brothers to come down. We recognize that the profile of insurgency is that not all of them are hard core. Most of them are just sympathizing; supporting. Maybe by intimidation or by force.
Maybe poverty in itself would not force one to surrender. I think it’s more the exploitation of poverty, injustice. All things that arise out of our countrymen’s poverty, if exploited, will be used to push the people to take their side.
We want to show to our brothers that we are sincere. Government is sincere. Inspite of its limitations in terms of resources, were are sincere in getting them back. This is what we are doing by social integration.
Sometime March 2007, our president came out with a proclamation. It was about this National Social Integration Program. This was followed by a subsequent proclamation; something about amnesty. But since the amnesty portion has to require a sum of money, it has to go through congress. And this has not been realized yet. About 3 weeks ago, President Arroyo and Sec. Esperon, launches the SID, Social Integration Program, in Davao. It shows the sincerity of government and this emanates already from the top.
Now what we are trying to do is to push deals on the ground level. We noticed that we need inputs from even the former NPA’s themselves, so that we will be able to properly design the execution on the ground of the integration program.
Michael Turner: Can you comment on this new amnesty program and the one in the past which failed miserably?
Colonel Peralta:Honestly, I have no point of comparison because I have not examined how the previous one worked and this one. This is something new. However, what I know is that there will be a local amnesty committee or board, with representatives from the Department of Justice (DOJ), police, provincial prosecutor. The good thing here is that this committee includes added government agencies. I’m not sure about the religious sector, but let me tell you something, though. In relation to how the ground level Social Integration Program in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon has evolved, inputs from the priests/religious sectors are considered. And they have many.
Michael Turner: Don’t you think that the politicians might be slighted with being left out of this SID?
Colonel Peralta: They are not left out. They may conduct sub-lettings(?) about this activity. Everybody is involved; even the local government is involved here. Let me cite a situation. Here in Misamis Oriental, we have Governor Moreno himself pushing for this. There is the technical working group from the Peace and Order Council of the province.
Michael Turner: There will be no duplication of functions?
Colonel Peralta: No. No duplication. It’s more of a collaboration. A collaborative work
Michael Turner: We have the Peace and Order Council and SID Program of the government. How do they relate with each other?
Colonel Peralta:Recently, we have been talking with elements of the National Social Integration Program and some of our peer groups; and what we’re trying to do is marry the 2.
I’m not sure if there are Peace and Order Council members who are also SID members. But what I’m sure about is that the Provincial Peace and Order Council has a lot of elements involved or considered in the formulation of localized units.
Michael Turner: Was the idea of SID started during your time, or did this come in during your predecessor’s time and you just followed it up?
Colonel Peralta:Actually, I should say it is the working of a collaborative effort. This idea only evolved while we were discussing this with the local government, DILG, and the other agencies like health, and our priests. So this was actually an evolution of ideas and commitment which will be helpful to society because what we’re trying to do is bring down our brothers who are up in the mountains. And this is also in concept with the purpose of putting an end to insurgency. So this is actually a twist of paradigms, because if we continue to do the things that we have been doing for the past several years, without changing anything in our approach, we can expect that things will be as they are in the next years. So the twist of paradigms there is really to sincerely embrace our brothers; to help those who want to come down.
Michael Turner: You must have something like peace building. How do you go about this?
Colonel Peralta:This is something new also. In recent years, some officers shifted to this idea. Actually, this is a very noble idea. The objective is to make complete soldiers. Normally, our soldiers are raised with combat orientation, discipline, fighting spirit, and so on. But we have a difficult time relating with our counterparts. This peace building training seminar is being done so that soldiers can talk with everybody. Another good thing about this experience is conflict transformation, so that at the ground level, our soldier who encounters a situation in a barangay, sitio, or purok, can settle it. He can talk with people and find out what happened, and in a positive way.
Michael Turner: With the increased focus on human rights, medical missions, and socio-civic activities, the whole context of the AFP is trying to create a new image. Do you agree with that?
Colonel Peralta:Yes, I agree. Trying to create a new image, but more of being what we should be. The image is just an incident of what we’re trying to do.
But this is not to be done by us alone. We still believe that everything should be done in collaboration with the local government, and the other agencies. And since we are not permanent in our areas of operation, what we do is to engage more. Hopefully, we will become significant in violence management and then we will simply move all the support to the local government.
Michael Turner: Let’s talk about the rebel returnees. How many, so far, have come down since January this year?
Colonel Peralta: In the area of Misamis Oriental, we’ve had about 10. In the area of Bukidnon, we’ve had about 11.
Michael Turner: How did you make them come down?
Colonel Peralta:They sent us feelers.
But we’re proposing to the government that it would be more comfortable on the part of our brothers in the mountains to approach local officials and tribal leaders. Or even their close relatives who can bridge to the local government.
Michael Turner: Let’s talk about politicians and local government officials. It has been their nature to employ ways to show that they are working. What is your comment on this?
Colonel Peralta:Let’s separate the politicians from the local government. It would be better to focus on the local government because they are the ones who are already serving the people.
Michael Turner: Compared to the last 10 years, the number of rebel returnees has increased. Can you comment on this?
Colonel Peralta:It’s more from the pressure, plus the fact that the Army units kept chasing them; they’re tired, and they miss their families.
The SID Program, which offers livelihood, this we need to see being implemented now.
Michael Turner: What about this livelihood thing? Are you really implementing this?
Colonel Peralta:No. This is still in the pipeline. Initially, our units take care of those who have surrendered.
Michael Turner: What about their families?
Colonel Peralta:Some of them are in the camp with their families.
Michael Turner: The old program for the rebel returnees failed because after the rebels’ weapons were bought, the support system was cut-off. I hope this does not happen again.
Colonel Peralta:This time, it’s better because of a discussion on the ground level and even monitoring after the surrender. Monitoring on the integration level – whether the community was able to absorb or to take care of the returnee.
This is not a one-shot system.
Those who are in the local government, in the provinces, they are the ones who provide us with the best ideas.
This is really a hands-on program.
To give due credit to our leaders in high positions, actually, they are in the process of consulting also.
Michael Turner: What’s the status of the budget at this point? Is it still in congress?
Colonel Peralta: We actually acquire the funds from the presidential division
Michael Turner: Let’s go back to peace building. How do you go through the process of inculcating this kind of mentality to the soldiers?
Colonel Peralta:Actually, we have commissioned the assistance of NGOs. They will bring in practitioners, civilian and a few military men who have undergone training). The military men can share to us the actual experience of a military man so that we can identify with the experience.
I’d like to take this opportunity to cite our brother lumads. They are the ones we need to bring down. There’s a statistic that shows that about 60 to 70% of NPAs here in the region are lumads. Surprisingly, in our encounters, the materials that we recover from these encounters, there are many lecture materials used for influencing our lumad brothers.
This is where peace building comes into motion, because it will enable us to do collaborative work with our brothers.
Michael Turner: Specifically, what types of programs are you doing in winning the hearts of the lumads?
Colonel Peralta:What we’re trying to do in collaboration with other agencies of the government is to strengthen their nature, their structure, so that they will not be vulnerable to exploitation.
From the human rights issues of the previous regime, where we came from, conflicts transpired so we are now trying to make peace with them, so that we can re-establish good relations.
Michael Turner: What about on the aspects of injustice?
Colonel Peralta:This is where peace building comes in again because in the process of peace building, we try to analyze the situation. The case of the lumads is a conflict situation and communication among those who are concerned is important, as well as the involvement of uninterested parties like us.
We facilitate the peace process; the conflict transformation.
We try to dig deeper and find the root causes and interests of the parties; their needs. Not just their behaviors and characters. And then we try to evolve together to come up with solutions.
We would like to call on our local government counterparts, government agencies, and even the NGOs, even the peace groups, everybody, even the mere private citizens, to collaborate to the purpose of peace and stability.
Michael Turner: Thank you for your time, Colonel. If you don’t mind me saying, I am really impressed with you, from the neatness of your uniform to your obvious advanced education and your communication skills, I am sure you will will wear at least three start before you retire. I previously met Alan Aldrin, the 2nd man to walk on the Moon, and i can at least say that I am as much impressed by you as I was by him. I wish you the best of luck and success in the future. Thank you for allowing me to interview you.