MILF: Exclude Bangsamoro from Mindanao agenda

From the MILF Website (Feb 2): MILF: Exclude Bangsamoro from Mindanao agenda

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has made it clear as a matter of policy in dealing with the Aquino administration and foreign entities that any development program intended for Mindanao should exclude the Bangsamoro to avoid confusion and to give justice to it. In the previous administrations, the government had sourced millions of dollars intended for the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, which were mainly situated in Moro-dominated provinces, but when it came to implementation those were rechanneled to other areas.

This was the statement of Muhammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF Secretariat, in response to reported growing interests of many states and international aid agencies as well as investors to come to the Bangsamoro and participate in the rehabilitation and development of the new political entity.

“It is time the issue of Bangsamoro should not be dealt through the larger ambit of the Mindanao agenda,” he explained, saying that it is time that the Bangsamoro should determine their destiny and what is good for them.

He disclosed that one of the priority areas communicated to the government for rehabilitation and development are watershed areas which were devastated by unscrupulous mining companies and loggers and the dredging of the Rio Grande de Mindanao (Pulangi River), which snakes though North Cotabato and Maguindanao and causes almost year-long flooding.

He also called on Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDa), to give weight to the position of the MILF.

The MinDa has recently formed Task Force on Mindanao Rivers to conduct a rapid assessment of all critical rivers across the island.

She told media men during a press conference that the task force will become a major project under the Mindanao Nurturing Our Water (MindaNOW) program, which is “a set of integrated interventions designed to facilitate the effective management of Mindanao’s natural resources, adopting the ridge-to-reef approach to planning.”

The task force will be composed of volunteer experts from Mindanao and that it will be included in presenting MindaNOW to donor agencies for possible funding.

Aside from conducting rapid assessment, the task force will recommend an integrated action plan that will address the immediate rehabilitation of identified critical rivers.

Antonino said that several mountain ranges in Mindanao have become denuded, resulting in the destruction of watersheds and the overflowing of rivers, particularly citing the Masara and Kaban mountain ranges in Mawab, Agusan del Sur and Monkayo, Compostela Valley, respectively.
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