Government, World Bank ink $33.6-M ARMM Social Fund

DAVAO CITY — The government and the World Bank signed here last Monday a $33.6-million loan agreement that would make up the five-year Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Social Fund Project (ASFP).

World Bank country director Vance Pulley said Japan’s international aid agency would make available an additional $20 million later this year, raising the ASFP’s total amount to over $50 million.

Finance Undersecretary Juanita Amatong signed the agreement on behalf of the government, while ARMM Gov. Parouk Hussin stood as witness.

The ASFP is an offshoot of the $10-million SZOPAD (Special Zone of Peace and Development) Social Fund that was terminated last Dec. 31.

The SZOPAD Social Fund was a World Bank loan the government secured in 1998. Fourteen provinces and 10 cities comprised the special zone of peace and development, as stipulated under the 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

This time, Pulley said the ASFP would focus on areas within the ARMM, benefiting more than 600 families in conflict-affected barangays in 94 towns.

"The World Bank’s strategy for Mindanao is aimed at assisting the government in achieving its dual objectives of reducing poverty and promoting peace. This important project is part of the World Bank’s response to President Arroyo’s request for the World Bank to take the lead role, within the donor community, in assisting the government to play a stronger role in peace and development efforts for Mindanao," Pulley said.

Amatong said there has been a heightened interest in the ASFP among other donor agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

"This fund is one instrument by which the President’s program to drastically reduce poverty, promote peace and achieve socio-economic development of Mindanao can be attained," she added. — Edith Regalado