MASSIVE JOLO REBUILDING STARTS
JOLO, SULU, March 7, 2005 (STAR) By Roel Pareño - The government has earmarked millions of pesos for the massive reconstruction of Jolo where weeks of fighting between troops and rebels loyal to a jailed former provincial governor have laid waste roads, houses and livelihood.Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, said the rebuilding of the strife-torn island has begun with the arrival of members of an Army engineering brigade.
"We are going to start massive rehabilitation efforts in Jolo," Deles told officials here in transcripts released yesterday.
"We are going to repair roads and build schools and mosques and other things needed by the people. The soldiers from the engineering brigade are now here and they are inspecting many areas where fighting broke out and we hope to start very soon," she said.
Deles made the statement as relief goods continued to arrive from Manila aboard C-130 military planes for distribution to more than 51,000 civilians displaced by fighting between soldiers and suspected followers of jailed former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Nur Misuari.
Facing charges of rebellion, Misuari is jailed at the police training camp Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
Deles laid down President Arroyo’s four-point directives during a meeting with local government chief executives, and military and police officials on Saturday.
"We invite everyone to focus on this stage as we are moving beyond the conflict," she said. "Linking hands, linking arms we will bring Sulu into the brighter future that we all dreamt of."
Deles said the reconstruction and rehabilitation plan is expected to start on the first week of April with the rebuilding of 52 houses damaged by fighting in the Sulu towns of Panamao, Indanan and Parang.
"We can have a very clear program in developing and rehabilitating Sulu and everyone will know who is building what and what is the timetable," she said.
Deles said the idea is to ensure that local governments will be committed to rebuild everything that was destroyed and that good governance will be rewarded.
The Sulu provincial government has created the Provincial Executive Legislative Agenda Council in accordance with Mrs. Arroyo’s order to speed up the development, she added.
People in Sulu must bond together and focus on rehabilitation, Deles said.
A timetable would be set to ensure local appropriation and ordinances will be finished and submitted to the provincial government.
Army engineers will also undertake reconstruction on health centers, nutrition posts, mosque, and barangay centers, and road networks not affected by the conflict.
The 55th AFP Engineer Brigade has started to arrive in Sulu to make the necessary preparations and damage assessments.
The number of evacuees has reached the 51,051 peak as of March 4, but immediately dwindled after the military and police "neutralized" the tense situation.
Nearly 50,000 people fled their barangays when fighting broke out between suspected followers of Misuari and government forces.
The MNLF signed a peace pact with the government in 1996, during which Misuari was elected ARMM governor, but he was jailed in 2001 after he led a fresh uprising in Jolo when the government did not back his bid to be reelected governor.
His followers staged the attacks in Jolo, reportedly with the support of the Abu Sayyaf.
About 100 soldiers and guerrillas have killed in the latest fighting that has raged for more than three weeks.
Mrs. Arroyo on Friday said there would be no "letup in punitive actions" against the gunmen, rejecting a proposed truce.
A military transport plane arrived in Jolo on Saturday, bringing tons of relief goods that were distributed to hungry refugees in Panamao, one of the towns most affected by the clashes. — With AFP
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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