The Philippine government has promised full rehabilitation for conflict-affected communities in the troubled south in the next three years as it prepares to sit down again with Muslim rebels.
Chief presidential adviser to the peace process, Teresita Deles, said on 21 September the "three-year recovery plan" would include re-establishing transitional support for basic services in education, health and sanitation, as well as social protection, entailing direct cash payments to families.
The government would also set up an employment guarantee programme where one member of a vulnerable household would work for 100 days in a state project every year, while skills development programmes would also be launched.
"Given the multi-faceted challenges of communities recovering from conflict, interventions of less than three years will not be enough, but more than this will not be sustainable," Deles told a ground-breaking peace summit in Cotabato city, seat of the government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
"The communities will be asked to draw up a plan within a three-year horizon and a detailed one-year physical and financial plan that will become the basis for pushing forward convergent peace and development efforts on the ground," she said.
The announcement came as the 12,000-member separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government drew up their respective peace panels and presented the list to the Malaysian government, which will host the negotiations.
No specific date has been set for resumption of peace talks although President Benigno Aquino had said they would start after Ramadan, which ended on 10 September.
The MILF carried out simultaneous deadly attacks across large areas of the southern island of Mindanao in 2008 after the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a proposed deal giving it control over areas claimed as "ancestral domain".
More than 700,000 people were displaced at the height of the conflict, with 400 deaths.
According to the government, only about 60,000 people remain displaced, staying in evacuation centres or with relatives or friends.
There is, however, concern about so-called "invisible IDPs", who have not been properly tracked, making them more vulnerable.
"Even as we sustain the rigour of due diligence in preparing for the resumption of peace talks with the MILF, we continue to stress the peace and security framework ... fully recognizing that peace is not made just at the negotiating table, but must be waged vigorously on the ground," Deles said.
fz/ds/mw
Chief presidential adviser to the peace process, Teresita Deles, said on 21 September the "three-year recovery plan" would include re-establishing transitional support for basic services in education, health and sanitation, as well as social protection, entailing direct cash payments to families.
The government would also set up an employment guarantee programme where one member of a vulnerable household would work for 100 days in a state project every year, while skills development programmes would also be launched.
"Given the multi-faceted challenges of communities recovering from conflict, interventions of less than three years will not be enough, but more than this will not be sustainable," Deles told a ground-breaking peace summit in Cotabato city, seat of the government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
"The communities will be asked to draw up a plan within a three-year horizon and a detailed one-year physical and financial plan that will become the basis for pushing forward convergent peace and development efforts on the ground," she said.
The announcement came as the 12,000-member separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government drew up their respective peace panels and presented the list to the Malaysian government, which will host the negotiations.
No specific date has been set for resumption of peace talks although President Benigno Aquino had said they would start after Ramadan, which ended on 10 September.
The MILF carried out simultaneous deadly attacks across large areas of the southern island of Mindanao in 2008 after the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a proposed deal giving it control over areas claimed as "ancestral domain".
More than 700,000 people were displaced at the height of the conflict, with 400 deaths.
According to the government, only about 60,000 people remain displaced, staying in evacuation centres or with relatives or friends.
There is, however, concern about so-called "invisible IDPs", who have not been properly tracked, making them more vulnerable.
"Even as we sustain the rigour of due diligence in preparing for the resumption of peace talks with the MILF, we continue to stress the peace and security framework ... fully recognizing that peace is not made just at the negotiating table, but must be waged vigorously on the ground," Deles said.
fz/ds/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article
