MANILA, Philippines – Since 2001, the British embassy of Manila and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) have been striving to bring peace and stability to strife-torn Mus-lim Mindanao by exposing young Muslim profes-sionals to a work environment that promotes cul-tural unity and diversity.
“YuPPeace” or the Young Muslim Professionals for Business and Peace program is an offshoot of the PBSP’s Busi-ness and Peace Program.
Under the program, young Muslim professio-nals are given the opportunity to work as interns in large companies based in Metro Manila and other key cities of the country for a maximum of six months.
The young interns not only develop leadership skills and learn good business practices, but are also immersed in a multi-cultural environment that molds them into ambassadors of peace.
In addition, the YuPPeace program also imparts a compe-titive advantage to Muslim business through techno-logy transfer from the host company, creates peace dividends through a meaningful cul-tural exchange between the YuP-Peace intern and employees of the host company, and encourages companies to adopt internal manage-ment policies that promote cultural unity and diversity in the workplace.
“This initiative bolters the overall peace process,” said British Am-bassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham, stressing that business will only thrive in a condition of stability which the YuPPeace program can offer.
According to the PBSP, the ARMM has a total labor force of 1.6 million, of which 57 percent or 945,630 are considered employed. Despite this, the poverty incidence in ARMM in 2006 was recorded at a high of 53.1 percent, higher than the national rate of 30.4 percent.
Beckingham believes that the tension in the ARMM is rooted both in ideology and economy.
“I think it is both. They work together. When there is poverty, the people tend to take a more radical approach to changing things by taking up arms and attacking the forces of government. It’s a combination of the two issues,” he said.
For his part, PBSP chairman businessman Manuel Pangilinan stressed the need for business participation in building peace and development in Mindanao.
“Violent conflict is at the root of underdevelopment, with economic losses estimated at P5 billion to P10 billion annually. I feel this figure is an underestimation, if we consider the economic losses from deprivation and exclusion, lack of access to education, and the unrealized potential of Mindanao’s human resources to contribute to national development. That is why this program’s key strategy is human capacity development,” Pangilinan said in a statement.
“In the last three and a half years, we have together crafted practical ways in which the business community can take part in the development of Mindanao. We encourage you to help enlarge this group to include other partners and businesses,” he added.
Meanwhile, Beckingham said the conflict in Muslim Mindanao could be resolved with greater international involvement.
“I am not saying that we have the answers, we don’t. It’s a Philippine problem. At the end of the day, it will have to be resolved by the Philippines. But maybe greater international involvement in some stages will be helpful,” he said.
Beckingham told reporters that the British government is willing to assist in the resolution of the conflict in Mindanao should the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ask for it.
According to Beckingham, the British government could share its experience in handling the situation in Northern Ireland and the conflict involving the Irish Republican Army.
“Well, there are obviously differences between the two conflicts. What we have said is that there may be areas where what happened in Northern Ireland could be useful for the people to consider here. But we are not saying that the two are identical,” he said.
“It has been shown in Northern Ireland that when there is peace, business will invest in an area. In Northern Ireland, a number of major companies from overseas have now invested because there has now been peace there for nine years. Obviously, I think something similar will happen in the Muslim region of Mindanao. That would take a real breakthrough in the discussions between the government and the MILF. But at the end of the day, it I for those two sides to say what should happen next. They have to meet and decide what the next steps are. It is not for us (to decide). We have not been asked to become involved. Only if we were asked will we consider it,” Beckingham stressed.
According to Beckingham, the decommissioning of weapons is also one area where the British government has had much experience. This, he said, could be helpful in ridding the conflict areas in Mindanao of weapons.
“We were involved in decommissioning in Northern Ireland. Clearly, as I’ve said, there are big differences between the two. I think there are more arms, greater use of weapons in Mindanao than in Northern Ireland. So the scale of decommissioning will be quite different in the two areas. But nonetheless, there may be some areas were our experience in decommissioning could be relevant in Mindanao. I think everyone should recognize that there is a greater scale simply because firearms are more frequently used in Mindanao than in Northern Ireland,” he said.