"Mindanao will never realize its full potentials unless the government is brought back to the center of the people’s lives, and unless the region’s future is fully integrated into the future of the entire nation." PGMA
The Mindanao National Initiative to be unveiled during the First Muslim Summit shall be an important step towards the fulfillment of the promise of Mindanao. Mindanao Natin aims to mobilize the local governments, civil society and the business community in the blueprint for development for Muslim Mindanao.
It has been noted that Muslim Mindanao continued to be the poorest area in the country, beset by a very low literacy rate and whose economic exclusion has resulted in conflicts.
The government is set to earmark P5.5-billion for the regional initiative Mindanao Natin would also receive some $1.3 billion in official development assistance to bankroll high-impact priority infrastructure project.
The socio-economic package would be carried out in over 5,000 villages in Mindanao's four regions - Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Southcentral Mindanao, Western Mindanao and Northern Mindanao.
FOUR PRINCIPLES
There are four principles that serve as guide in working for the rehabilitation and full&nbs p; development of Mindanao, a centerpiece program of the Macapagal Arroyo administration.
These are:
-- Peace and development must go together;
-- The development of Mindanao must be anchored on constitutionality, national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country;
-- There must be social justice for all, regardless of one’s belief or station in life;
-- All acts of terrorism and lawlessness should be condemned.
THE PROGRAM
The Mindanao Natin shall be done through a 10-point program that also ensures the implementation of the Tripoli Agreement entered into by the government and the Moro National Liberation Front in Tripoli, Libya.
The program includes the:
-- Substantial implementation of the Tripoli Agreement;
-- Strengthening of local monitoring teams looking into the rehabilitation of conflict-affected villages in the Pikit-Pagalungan- Pagagawan cluster in Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces and the Carmen-President Roxas-Damulog cluster in Cotabato;
-- Formation of a new breed of soldiers called the Sala'am (zone of peace) soldiers, half of whom are Muslims, to protect Muslim communities and assist in the delivery of socio-economic services to the latter;
-- Financing and conduct of livelihood training programs for conflict-affected families;
-- Implementation of a rebel returnees program;
-- Creation of one-stop action centers for land documentation and titling;
-- Conduct of a distance-learning program that will provide basic education and specialty training courses;
-- Conduct of youth and culture-sensitive programs on sports and the arts;
-- Implementation of community-scale, quick-gestation infrastructure projects that include an P281 million worth of projects in the ARMM, P71 million for Western Mindanao, and P73 million in Southcentral Mindanao;
-- Implementation of the $1.3-billion ODA to finance roads and bridges, irrigation and water resource facilities and maritime safety facilities.
