TACLOBAN CITY — The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace, Reconciliation and Unity and the Department of the Interior and Local Government are set to pilot the creation of a peace center that will serve as a repository of peace efforts in post-local communist armed conflict situation.

Eastern Visayas OPAPRU regional manager Imelda Calagos said the peace center will replicate the peacebuilding and peacemaking functions of the OPAPRU in the provincial level.

She added that the peace center in Eastern Visayas will be established in Northern Samar due to the readiness of the province as it already has an existing program at the Darangpanan Center, the half-way house for former rebels that is funded by the provincial government.

The national government will release P5 million as an initial fund for the implementation of plans and projects related to local peace engagement and transformation programs of the peace center.

Other provinces that will pilot the creation of peace center are South Cotabato, Negros Occidental, Aurora, Agusan del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Masbate. All these provinces will also receive P5 million as its initial fund.

"We will equip the center with the staff and pool of resource persons to handle the training needs of our former rebels, families and communities under the local peace engagement and transformation program," Calagos said.

She added that Northern Samar has a lot of good practices and innovations on peacebuilding efforts since 2015 that the provincial government supported with local ordinances and appropriations passed.