More than $2-billion foreign aid seen for Mindanao peace

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – At least more than $2 billion in foreign aid is expected to be poured into Mindanao in the next few months to reduce poverty and attain peace in the strife-torn south, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman said.

Soliman announced the foreign funding assistance would come in the form of grants and soft loans with the US and Japan as the biggest donors.

“The international community has signified intention in helping bring about peace in Mindanao,” Soliman said.

She added the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have both also pledged to come up with $400 million each for Mindanao in the next few years.

The country is also reportedly set to avail of the $120-million soft loan from US government’s Millennium Challenge program.

Other international donors such as Spain and the European Community also pledged certain amounts for the development of Mindanao.

The government is reportedly eyeing another $1 billion in foreign funding for a five-year period program.

Soliman said the chances for peace in Mindanao are higher if government is able to effectively address the poverty plaguing most parts of the strife-torn region.

Soliman said the Department of Social Welfare and Development is working in close coordination with the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP) in implementing the proposed programs and projects aimed at reducing poverty in the south.

“We will see what arrangements can be done to begin the peace process especially since we also have the case of the internally displaced persons (refugees),” Soliman said.

Soliman stressed the government is bent on implementing the three phases of poverty reduction that would include the conditional-cash-transfer program for families with three children in school who shall avail of a P300 monthly allowance each and another P500 for the mother.

Soliman said government would also spend the foreign funding assistance on community-driven projects that would be identified by local government units.

The third phase involves sustainable livelihood programs for the affected communities, she said.

Soliman added the government would focus on the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the region that fared very low in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) standards.