Mindanao remains focus of US aid, says Kenney

BAGUIO CITY – Mindanao will remain the focus of assistance of the United States government, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney said here yesterday.

Mindanao, which Kenney described as still a “conflict-affected” region, will continue to be a prime concern of the US government. 

Speaking at Baguio Teachers’ Camp (BTC), which marks its centennial this year, and leading the formal groundbreaking of the Thomasites Park here, the US envoy said that her government sees solving the problems in Mindanao “as a key to Philippine development.”  

Mindanao can pull the Philippines down, that is why the US government through its programs, specifically the USAID, had been pouring a lot of resources to infrastructure and other concerns (in Mindanao) to finally nail down the roots of conflict there, she said.

“And so we view as a real key if you can get Mindanao’s economic potentials unleashed with some development projects, with some infrastructure, then the rest of the country that is also doing well can really take off,” Kenney said.

She also vowed continued US support for the country’s efforts to improve the quality of education.

Tribute to Thomasites

The Department of Education (DepEd) paid tribute yesterday to the “Thomasites,” a group of American teachers who came to the Philippines at the turn of the century to teach and educate Filipinos.

Kenney said that assistance in education between the Philippines and the US has been going on for over 100 years even after the arrival of the Thomasites.

“We still have education as a great cornerstone of our friendship.  Education is our past, our present, and our future,” she said.

She added that the Thomasites’ work of introducing the American brand of education and English language to Filipinos helped “build the bridge to strong and enduring US and Philippine friendship.”

However, she said that the Philippines should also be credited for welcoming the Thomasites.

“As we celebrate here today a great legacy… I’d like to say thank you. Thank you for welcoming the Thomasites. For showing them a tradition that lives on today — the great Filipino warmth and friendship, the Filipino desire to learn, to see the world if only through a textbook and now, the Internet.”

By welcoming the Thomasites, Kenney said that the Philippines was able to establish its public education system modeled after the Americans – one of the first in the world to do so.

“I think it’s true that we all are products of the Thomasites. In the sense that each and everyone of us, old and young, is a product of the people who we’re proud of. We’re the product of tireless people who traveled far, who spent long days preparing lesson plans for students,” Kenney said.

“Today, America and the Philippines celebrate a continuing partnership in education, one that is very modern,” Kenney said.

“We recently had a ceremony in the (US) embassy for Filipino Fulbright scholars. They’re heading out to the United States to teach in US universities,” Kenney said. – Artemio Dumlao, Rainier Allan Ronda