BANAUE, Philippines – Former rebels in Ifugao and Mt. Province have become partners of peace and development in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) as they turn into farmers of coffee beans and lemon grass.
Mario Pugong, who was a rebel operating in the Cordillera mountains at the height of martial law in the 1970s, is now engaged in the distillation and fermentation of essential oils and other extracts from lemon grass.
Now the president of the Concerned Citizens for Ifugao Peace and Development (CCIPD), Pugong, said many of his former comrades in the communist movement are also planting lemon grass and coffee varities such as arabica and robusta.
Fernando Bahatan, project coordinator of the CCIPD, said members of his group are currently developing the practical use of lemon grass leaves for tea under a partnership agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“These products are environmentally-friendly, and they also have potential health benefits,” Bahatan said.
Pugong said the production and processing of essential oils from lemon grass have been made possible in projects for rebel returnees with the assistance of UNDP and the Philippine government.
“The projects help us rebel returnees in community-based rural development, as well as the opportunity in our dreams for a better livelihood,” Pugong said. “It’s good to live in peace, but now we are waging war against poverty. Projects for rebel returnees like this can give us the solutions to continue living in peace.”
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