Villagers from Misamis Oriental province on Mindanao say they are tired of war and have demanded both the government and communist rebels leave them in peace.

Paquito Daao, village chief of Kibanban, near Balingasag says villagers are living in a “war zone” and this week presented Jesuit priest Albert Alejo with villagers’ demands expressing their desire for peace.

Father Alejo is a member of the reciprocal working committee on socio-economic reforms of the government peace panel negotiating with the communist-led National Democratic Front.

We are “sick and tired of war,” said Daao, who added it was not just New People’s Army rebels who commit human rights abuses but also government troops.

Atrocities committed by rebels in a nearby sub-village called Lantad were “most brutal,” he said.

Rebels have launched what they call “Operation Zombie” to kill people they suspected as being government “agents,” he added.

Father Alejo accepted a copy of the “Lantad Manifesto” in which the villagers also spelled out their desire for the “right to self-determination.”

Father Alejo, however, urged Daao to also give a copy to the rebel peace panel.

“If you have any suggestions, comments, or anything you want the two sides to discuss or take up during the talks, it would be better to give both panels copies of these documents,” he said.

Peace negotiations between the government and the rebels to end a more than three-decade communist insurgency opened earlier this year.

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