The ‘Swiss challenge’

Last month we saw many video clips and photos of the so-called “ice bucket challenge” that started in the US to raise funds for research to cure ALS disease. It sent many copycats here in the Philippines into frenzy to also pour ice cubes and cold water over their heads.

But long before this craze, there has already been an existing catchphrase to do business here in our country. It is called the “Swiss challenge,” a term more familiar to Filipino businessmen and foreign investors trying to break into big-ticket projects in the Philippines.

As the name itself suggests, the “Swiss challenge” is a bidding process that allows third parties to make better offers (challenges) for a project during a designated period with a simple objective to discourage frivolous project, or to avoid exaggerated development costs. Then accordingly, the original proponent gets the right to counter-match any superior offers given by the third party.

But for the purposes of this column, I would use the term “Swiss challenge” to describe the latest initiatives of the government of Switzerland to help the Philippines. Specifically, Switzerland has formally joined in the ongoing efforts of the administration of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III to forge a final peace agreement in Mindanao with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). 

In an official statement by the embassy of Switzerland based in Makati City, the Swiss federal government welcomed President Aquino’s formal submission earlier last month of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to the 16th Congress as “another major step in the process to bring peace to the Southern Philippines.”

The submission of the draft BBL came after the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) was signed between the Philippine government and the MILF on March 27, 2014. The CAB provided, among other things, mechanisms within the framework of the “normalization process,” or the acceptable euphemism for decommissioning of armed MILF fighters.

One of the mechanisms formed was the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission, or TJRC. Switzerland was nominated by both peace panels to chair this body. As an independent commission established by the “Normalization Annex” to the CAB, the Swiss-led TJRC is tasked to “undertake a study and recommend to the panels the appropriate mechanisms to address legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people, correct historical injustices and address the human rights violations and marginalization through land dis-possession, towards healing and reconciliation.”

The TJRC was also tasked to recommend programs and measures that will bring about the reconciliation of the different communities that have been affected by the conflict. It is given one year to submit its report to the respective heads of the negotiating panels.

Now fully engaged in the Mindanao peace process after it accepted to chair the TJRC, the Swiss government named Mo Bleeker to head this body that will deal with past atrocities committed by the MILF rebels and Philippine government troopers.

Bleeker is the special envoy of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) as head of the “Task Force for Dealing with the Past and the Prevention of Atrocities.” The Task Force is an entity created by the FDFA in 2011 to promote a Swiss designed approach to the fight against impunity and the prevention of atrocities. As in the case of the TJRC, the Task Force is frequently approached to offer its expertise.

The TJRC’s two other commission members are Mrs. Cecilia Jimenez Damary, representing the Philippine government, and Ishak Mastura, as MILF representative. Jonathan Sisson from the FDFA serves as special adviser to the TJRC. The three-man team of Bleeker will travel to Cotabato to hold the TJRC’s first official public meeting tomorrow. They will have the TJRC launching on October 11 in Manila.

This only means one thing. The Swiss-led component of this peace process in Mindanao means business to get things going and done to complete the intent and spirit of the CAB in accordance with the agreed timetable.

With promised bipartisan support, leaders of both chambers of Congress vowed to pass the BBL early next year to give President Aquino time to set up a new autonomous government in Mindanao before his term ends in mid-2016.

The federal authorities of Switzerland have been most helpful to the Philippine government endeavors ever since. Switzerland has been playing a key role in Philippine government efforts to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator, former President Ferdinand Marcos and his family and their cronies that started during the term of P-Noy’s late mother, former President Corazon Aquino. In particular, they assisted in the freezing and later placed in escrow account the Marcos ill-gotten wealth stashed in secret Swiss bank accounts. 

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) headed by its incumbent chairman Andres Bautista reported Philippine authorities have so far recovered more than $4 billion of an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion amassed by the Marcoses. This includes $712 million from Marcos’ secret Swiss bank accounts, the PCGG chief added.

“Despite the great distance between Europe and Asia, the Philippines and Switzerland have been enjoying close ties dating as far back as 152 years. According to Swiss ambassador to the Philippines, Ivo Sieber, a Swiss consulate — the first in Asia — was established and opened in Manila in 1862. But diplomatic relations were formally established only on August 30, 1956, Sieber cited.

“We had government-to-government relations on a consular level since 1862. The Swiss consulate was permanently active even during the Japanese occupation until 1956 when it was upgraded to an Embassy. Formal diplomatic relations became only possible after Philippine independence,” Sieber pointed out.

From the recovery of ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses to the search for peace in Mindanao, the ambassador reiterated the commitment of Switzerland to these government efforts in the Philippines: “Partnerships and trust are essential. We’re ready to help.”

Despite describing as “a tall order” my drawing parallelism on the Mindanao peace process, ambassador Sieber is very optimistic the Filipinos are ready to rise to the “Swiss challenge” to finally achieve an enduring and lasting peace in southern Philippines.