Noy commits budget support for peace pact

MANILA, Philippines -President Aquino has committed full budgetary support for the implementation of the agreements between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the establishment of an autonomous Bangsamoro political entity, officials said.

Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process Teresita Deles and chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer revealed to The STAR over dinner on Friday that the financial requirements for the complete implementation of the peace agreement were huge.

“But it’s (peace) price is definitely worth it and cheaper than war,” Coronel said.

Coronel and Deles said the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process (OPAPP) will be submitting the financial requirements of the agency as well as for programs to implement the peace pact around April or May during the budget call for the 2015 national appropriations.

The OPAPP was allocated P314 million in 2013 and its budget was increased to P351 million this year as negotiations between the government and the MILF entered a final and critical stage.

Deles clarified that the complete financial requirements would not be fully handled or allocated to the OPAPP as many departments would be involved in the implementation of the agreements so significant portions of the funding would be appropriated to them.

She cited the case of the PAMANA programs, which are livelihood and empowerment projects for conflict-affected areas that are administered by various agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development with the OPAPP as the oversight body.

Coronel said bulk of the funding would be taken up for “transitional arrangements,” including the formation of various decommissioning, justice and reconciliation bodies, as well as socio-economic projects for poor communities in the envisioned autonomous Bangsamoro region.

“We have short-term, medium-term and long-term socio-economic projects to get the people back on their feet again. We are willing to pay the cost and the people are willing to pitch in,” Coronel said.

Waiting in the wings are international donor agencies and foreign and local investors, Deles and Coronel said.

Coronel said international donor agencies will be initiating education, health, and livelihood services in close coordination with the MILF.

Investors have expressed interest in possible agricultural and fisheries projects, she said.

Coronel said the MILF is in the process of drafting its own economic roadmap once the autonomous Bangsamoro region is in place to ensure that external aid and investments would not go to waste.

The Transition Commission is in the process of drafting the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law that it aims to submit to Congress for scrutiny in May.

Once approved by Congress, the proposed Basic Law would be submitted to a plebiscite in the concerned regions in Mindanao.

Review by Congress

Members of the Transition Commission met with leaders of the House of Representatives last Wednesday and gained support from lawmakers on the peace process.

House leaders have repeatedly expressed their preference that the proposed basic law should not require any amendment to the Constitution to avoid legal complications, including questions before the Supreme Court that would derail the peace process.

The Senate, for its part, is set to review the framework agreement and its annexes in preparation for deliberations on the Basic Law.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III has filed a resolution that would allow the review of the agreements.

Guingona, who witnessed the signing of the framework agreement with the MILF in Kuala Lumpur, said Congress and the public should have a deeper understanding of the agreement, which would become the basis for the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Guingona said the framework agreement outlines the general features of the political settlement between the government and the MILF.

• Marvin Sy, Roel Pareño, Alexis Romero