MILF camps transformation to productive, civilian communities continues

MUNAI, Lanao del Norte – Despite
initial uncertainties with regard the continuation of the Bangsamoro peace
process with the upcoming change of administration, the planned transformation
of the six previously acknowledged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps
continues as outlined in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro
particularly in its Normalization Annex.

Earlier last week, the Department
of Agriculture (DA) together with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the
Peace Process (OPAPP) and other government agencies including the Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP), turned over farming assistance to beneficiaries in
Camp Bilal here in Munai, Lanao del Norte, including farm tractors, three
carabaos and provisions for agriculture farm inputs totaling 600 bags of corn
seedlings and 1,000 pieces of fruit-bearing tree seedlings.

This is in compliance with the
provisions of the CAB, particularly the Annex on Normalization, as part of the
confidence-building measures that are undertaken through the joint task force
for the six acknowledged MILF camps with the end in view of transforming these
areas into peaceful and productive communities,” said Government of the
Philippines (GPH) Peace Panel member Senen Bacani.

The six previously acknowledged
MILF strongholds included Camps Abubakar, Omar, Badr, Rajamuda, Bushrah, and
Bilal.

It’s our fervent hope that
this assistance with the Department of Agriculture will help very much in
gradually transforming the communities in the six MILF camps into [the]
peaceful and productive communities we have envisioned in the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Bangsamoro, said Bacani, who co-chairs with MILF panel
member Abhoud Lingga the Joint Task Forces on Camps Transformation, which
coordinate and facilitate socio-economic projects and programs for the camps
and their communities.

We believe that peace will not be
achieved by talking alone but by action. The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) may be
delayed but we must continue to push for the economic development of the
Bangsamoro communities because development is a responsibility of every single
leader,” he added.

Col. William Alunday, Commanding
Officer of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade of the Mechanized Infantry Division,
Philippine Army and Carlota Madriaga, Operations Division Chief of DA Regional
Field Office X, were in attendance during the event and served as coordinators
for Camp Bilal.

Ensuring the continuity of the
process to the next administration

At the two-day special meeting
between the GPH and MILF panels in Malaysia, the parties issued the Declaration
of Continuity of the Partnership of the GPH and MILF in the Bangsamoro Peace
Process that seeks to ensure the full implementation of the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in the next administration”. They also signed
the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Project Board of the Mindanao Trust Fund
for the Six Previously Acknowledged MILF Camps (MTF-RDP Camps Project).

The TOR provides management
guidelines for quick-impact socioeconomic projects that will be funded by the
Mindanao Trust Fund Reconstruction and Development Programme (MTF-RDP).

The MTF-RDP is a multi-donor
funding facility managed by the World Bank to be managed from January to
December 2016 in accordance with the rules and regulations of the World Bank
with technical assistance from the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) –
Community and Family Services International (CFSI).”

Incoming Presidential Peace Adviser
Jesus G. Dureza vowed to continue the momentum of the Bangsamoro peace process
once the new administration takes over on June 30.

In my capacity as
Presidential Peace Adviser-Nominee to President-Elect Rodrigo R. Duterte, allow
me to welcome with positive note the forging in Malaysia of the declaration of
continuity in the search for sustainable peace between the Philippine
government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” Dureza said in a statement
which was read during the special meeting in Kuala Lumpur of the GPH and MILF
negotiating panels.

We intend to continue with the
gains and build on those already done and achieved. The roadmap that we will
traverse hereon will take policy guidance and direction from the new President
when he assumes office on June 30, 2016,” the statement continued.

Support from International
Community

Meanwhile in Cotabato City,
representatives from the different international non-government organizations
gathered in a one-day activity workshop on socio-economic survey on the six
acknowledged MILF camps conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) in partnership with the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) and the
Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA).

Project Coordinator Mr. Koji Demizu
said that the objective of the socio-economic survey is to contribute [to] the
successful implementation of the Normalization Annex by knowing/getting
socio-economic profiles and in-depth information of socio-economic
needs/aspirations of the selected communities.”

Demizu explained that the activity
aimed to gather and consolidate ideas and solicit recommendations in terms of
interventions and assistance needed in line with the results/findings and
recommendations from the socio-economic survey conducted last September 2015 up
to February 2016 from the invited participants, most of which came from the
international community such as The Asia Foundation, Save the Children, UNICEF,
UNDP, and the International Monitoring Team.

The JICA-spearheaded socio-economic
survey detailed the recommended economic opportunities that the different
invited agencies can help develop in order to help uplift the lives of the
people in the six municipalities covered by the study, namelyand Barira, Matanog
and Buldon of Maguindanao Kapatagan, Balabagan and Marogong of Lanao del Sur.

The Normalization Annex is part of
the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) under which the MILF and
GPH agreed to intensify development efforts of rehabilitation, reconstruction
and development of the Bangsamoro addressing the needs of MILF-BIAF members,
Internally Displaced Person (IDPs) and poverty stricken communities.