Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-J8i
- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech and Digital News
COTABATO CITY, November 1, 2024 (SDN) — Amity has prevailed in the relationship between Muslims in the Philippines and the European Union (EU), and even some of its individual member-states.
These fruitful friendly ties, mostly tipped on the local Muslims’ favor, is anchored on the EU’s long-time support and assistance to the Mindanao peace process starting with the Philippine Government (GPH) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) through the defunct ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) and, later, with the GPH and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).
Since then, until now, the EU has been a reliable partner for peace.
The BARMM replaced the ARMM through the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) which implements the GPH-MILF Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) which GPH and MILF signed on March 27, 2014. It ended decades of internecine strife and concluded the 17 years peace negotiations of GPH and MILF.
Established in 2019, the Bangsamoro region is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction. With the recent plebiscite at SGA, the BARMM now has eight new municipalities as residents voted “Yes”.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities (plus eight newly established under the SGA: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur.
Since the time of the ARMM which lasted for 20 years, the EU has poured millions of dollars in assistance to the Bangsamoro region to support the peace process. And many of the group’s officials have visited and continue to visit the region.
The latest visitors came on October 31 led by Deputy Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific Ms. Paola Pampaloni at the European Union External Action Service (EEAS).
She and her party paid a courtesy call on BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Balawag “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim durign which they discussed updates and development of the peace process in the Bangsamoro region and how the EU can expand its support and involvement in the peace process.
Pampaloni was joined in the visit to the BARMM by EU Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Santoro; Marco Gemmer, Head of Cooperation; Agata Nowicka, EEAS Desk Officer, Brussels; Frederic Grillet, First Secretary, EU Delegation to the Philippines; and Myrto Christofidou, Program Officer, EU Delegation to the Philippines.
EU, other countries expected to continue assistance for peace
The EU’s latest assistance to the Bangsamoro autonomous region came in August 2020 during the administration of the then President Rodrigo R. Duterte worth 24.5 million Euros, which is roughly US$28.8 million. It was made through the GPH.
Apparently, the primary objective of the assistance is “to help strengthen the government’s ongoing peace and confidence-building initiatives in the Bangsamoro autonomous region and assist in the recovery and rehabilitation of Marawi City in Mindanao,” the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
The Financing Agreement (FA) is for the Mindanao Peace and Development Programme (MINPAD)-Peace and Development in the BARMM (MINPAD-PD BARMM) transmitted by the EU to formalize the grant for the project.
In July 2020 the EU also extended two grants worth 60.5 million Euros (approximately US67.9 to GPH for the peacebuilding and development efforts in Mindanao focusing on “strengthening the institutions of the newly formed Bangsamoro autonomous government, creating jobs and improving community-based infrastructure in the island’s agricultural communities,” the DOF pointed out.
The DOF added: “These grants were for the Mindanao Peace and Development Programme-RISE Mindanao (MINPAD-RISE Mindanao), for which the EU provided a EUR35.5 million grant, and the Support to Bangsamoro Transition (SUBATRA), which received a grant of EUR 25 million.”
In November 2021, the Delegation of the EU to the Philippines and the BARMM launched a five-year Php1.5-billion Support to Bangsamoro Transition (SUBATRA) Program, which was aimed at helping lay the “foundation for lasting peace and development in the region by strengthening its institutions’ democratic governance capacities during the Bangsamoro transition period.”
Included in the EU assistance to the Bangsamoro covered funds for the rehabilitation of Marawi City which was devastated in the course of the May 2017 siege when Filipino affiliates in Mindanao of the Islamic State (IS) terror group attacked tried to plant the seed of an “Islamic state” in the region, clashing with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (PNP) and Philippine National Police (PNP).
It is expected the EU and other countries, and international organizations will continue support and provide assistance to the Bangsamoro region. (✓)