Starting Point
Ms. Maria Veronica P. Tabara, also known as Ka Inca, is a former member of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido Manggagawa-Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade-Tabara Paduano Group (RPM-P/RPA/ABB-TPG), a rejectionist group of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army (NPA), and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) based in Negros Occidental.
She began her involvement in the revolutionary movement during the height of the First Quarter Storm in 1970 at Silliman University in Negros Oriental, one of the leading universities in Western Visayas. She was recruited as a student activist by the Student Movement for the National Democratic Revolution. In the 1980s, she became part of the core group of women activists who established a chapter of the women's underground movement known as Makibaka. She led student organising efforts in Cebu and was later deployed to Samar to form guerrilla fronts. She was eventually arrested and detained for her involvement in the underground communist movement.
Peace Journey
Ms. Tabara is the chairperson of KAPATIRAN, which is actively involved in the Women in Transformation (WIT) programme. This programme, established in 2019, was created to address the need for targeted interventions. Its objectives include assisting women in transitioning from armed to unarmed life, ensuring their participation in defining and finalising peacebuilding initiatives, such as livelihood and housing projects, and providing training to help women access greater economic opportunities, including sustainable sources of income and employment. This programme is anchored in the Philippine National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (NAPWPS), which seeks to expand women's roles in the peace process and conflict transformation.
In the spirit of creating lasting peace, the Clarificatory Implementing Document (CID) to the 2000 Peace Agreement outlined that the KAPATIRAN normalisation programme included a transformation component. This component highlighted the empowerment of KAPATIRAN women as a key intervention for achieving complete transformation.
In March 2021, a training programme under the WIT initiative was developed to benefit 699 women, including the wives and women next of kin of the KAPATIRAN members, the Community Defence Unit (CDU) members, and the Forest Guards (FG). The training programme is structured in three phases. The first phase is pre-implementation, which includes a Training Needs Assessment (TNA), Coordination meetings with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU), and the launch of the skills and livelihood training programme. The second and third phases are implementation and post-implementation, which assess the effectiveness of the programme. The first two phases have been completed with various livelihood and skills programmes taught. This training has enabled them to pursue new or additional economic activities, benefiting themselves and their communities.
Success Stories
Under the KAPATIRAN peace process, areas formerly affected by conflict that are referred to as Community Peace Dividend barangays (district), have also received grants and are included in the Government’s Universal Health programme.
Programmes for KAPATIRAN members, their next-of-kin, and their communities, supported by national line agencies and local government units (LGUs), have led to significant outcomes. These include employment for 128 members as Bantay Gubat, health insurance for 8,121 individuals, and ₱36,350,000 in seed capital for 13 KAPATIRAN chapters.
Additionally, under the security component, 217 members are now part of the CAFGU (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit) Active Auxiliary-1 or known as CAA-1. They are later deployed in two CAA-1 companies. This deployment enhances the security of 90% of KAPATIRAN members living in the hinterlands, indirectly benefiting approximately 3,170 residents in nearby settlement sites in Western Visayas.