Peace secretary Teresita Deles said she agrees with the Senate Committee on Public Order, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation and Finance report on the Mamasapano incident that there can be no real justice without peace.
“The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process believes in the primacy of the government in ensuring peace and justice in any area in the country,” Deles said in a statement on Tuesday.
“What we have always implemented is a comprehensive peace process that seeks a principled and peaceful resolution of the internal armed conflicts, with neither blame nor surrender, but with dignity for all concerned, as established since the time of President Fidel V. Ramos, under EO no. 125, series of 1993 and reaffirmed under EO no. 3, series of 2001,” Deles said.
Deles said they support Senator Grace Poe’s declaration that the government cannot abandon the peace process.
“Justice for our SAF 44, and the others who lost their lives in Mamasapano, will be best served under a climate of peace. We should not let their deaths be in vain, and in this we trust that our partners in peace in Mindanao will do their part in ensuring that justice is attained with the dignity called for under a principled peace process that the Philippine government has been pursuing for 17 years,” Deles said.
