The government’s chief peace adviser bared his plan to
revitalise the Mindanao Working Group under the Philippines Development Forum
(PDF) to complement the peace and development roadmap of the Duterte
administration.
“The peace and development roadmap starts from the directive
that OPAPP [Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process] should not
only be doing peace work—negotiating and signing agreements, engaging those who
are on the other side of the table—but it is equally important to improve the
lives of the stakeholders,” said Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Jesus G. Dureza in a briefing on the government’s peace and development roadmap
for international partners and donor agencies in Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in
Ortigas.
The Mindanao Working Group was created together with nine
other working groups to form part of the PDF, the primary mechanism of the
government for facilitating substantive policy dialogue among stakeholders on
the country’s development agenda.
“It did not work before as we envisioned but hopefully we’ll
learn from our mistakes in the past as we continue working together again,” the
peace adviser added.
In this context, the Mindanao Working Group is envisioned to
harmonize development partners’ requirements and approaches in providing
assistance to target beneficiaries and communities affected by conflict.
The peace adviser also asked the international organizations
to continue their support on government’s peace efforts, particularly on the
Bangsamoro peace process that will be moving towards the implementation stage.
“Our foreign partners who helped us in the negotiations
stage can continue their support on areas which they perceive they can help a
lot. You are all welcome to continue to be our partners—strong partners—in the
implementation stage,” he said.
Fast tracking development efforts
The OPAPP secretary also explained to the stakeholders that
there is a proposal to amend and expand the mandate of the OPAPP to ensure that
development projects in conflict-affected communities are not delayed. “You all
know that the Philippine government has very long and stringent procurement
policies, and that the OPAPP does not have the mandate to implement development
projects.”
“That is why there are proposed amendments that are already
with the President that will unclog bottlenecks in development efforts in areas
where there is conflict. We want to do this because we cannot make the people
wait anymore for the peace dividends that were promised to them,” he continued.
“We will also take a look at the existing mechanisms of
procurement to find possible ways of speeding up the process. We would like to
hurry in our development work. We cannot make our people become anxious and
restless when they do not felt the benefits from the dividends of peace,” he
added.
Dureza assured that the support of donor partners in terms
of resources will be reciprocated by the Philippine government.
“We want to put our money where the mouth is. We cannot
invite our partners if the government is not giving its part to the pot,” he
concluded.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=911567
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