NEWSFLASH

P460-M PROJECTS FOR MILF AREAS IN 5 YEARS

Manila, March 24, 2000 - The Estrada administration will spend P460 million for infrastructure and livelihood projects in the next five years in areas considered as bailiwicks of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Secretary Robert Aventajado, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Flagship Programs and Projects, said the five-year development program to develop Camp Abubakar, the MILF's headquarters, and 23 municipalities and one city in Central Mindanao, was approved recently by the Economic Coordinating Council (ECC).

The government has already set aside P109.5 million for infrastructure projects, P11.99 million for livelihood projects, and P7.94 million for support facilities in Camp Abubakar. An additional P330 million will be allocated in the next four years, Aventajado said.

Called Household Enhancement and Livelihood Program (HELP), the development program in the MILF-influenced areas seeks to turn the hotbed of the Muslim secessionist movement into economically and productive self-reliant communities.

Aventajado said the development of the Muslim-dominated areas is part of President Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada's effort to eradicate the root causes of rebellion in the island and turn Mindanao into the country's next food basket.

The Chief Executive has implemented a host of development projects in the South in keeping with his 1998 campaign promise to end the official neglect of Mindanao under an Estrada presidency.

In his latest trip to Mindanao, he kicked off P23.7 billion of projects that would flesh out his plan to convert the South into the country’s premier food supplier.

HELP aims to double the income of at least 50 percent of the residents, reduce by 10 per cent the poverty level of 60 percent of the population, and provide employment in at least 30 percent of the communities.

"The program is targetting 75 percent of the 6,000 households with a population of 75,000 in the vicinity of Camp Abubakar and Camp Busrah, and 60,000 households with a population of 350,000 in other areas. These sum up to 75 percent of the 78,000 households with a population of 455,000," Aventajado said

The Flagship Office is the lead agency of HELP's oversight committee that will monitor the implementation of the projects. Private agencies, like the Growth with Equity in Mindanao-United States Agency for International Development, will participate in the projects.

According to Aventajado, HELP will not interfere in the ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the MILF.

During the first year, HELP will focus on the MILF camp. It will be expanded to other parts of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato and Cotabato City in the succeeding years.

The municipalities covered by HELP in Maguindanao are Matnog, where the MILF headquarters in Camp Abubakar is situated, Buldon, Parang, Pagalungan, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Shariff Aguak, Barira, Sultan Kudarat, North Upi, Butuan, Talayan, Datu Piang.

The other areas covered are the towns of Balindong,Butig, Kapalagan, Pualas, Kapal and Buadi Puso Bentong in Lanao del Sur; the towns of Poopa Piagapo, Sultan Naga Dimaporo and Matinggao in Lanao del Norte; and the towns of Pigoawayan and Pikit, and Cotabato City in Cotabato.

Aventajado and MILF chief Hashim Salamat met last February at Camp Abubakar in Matnog, Maguindanao, where they agreed to declare as peace zone the three towns in Maguindanao and South Cotabato to speed up the completion of the P1-billion Malitubog-Madrigao irrigation project.