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Monday, June 27, 2005
Belgium gov't ends aid to RP in 2007
By Ryan D. Rosauro
* However officials insist political climate is a non-factor
* European nation to divert aid to NGOs, agencies
PAGADIAN CITY -- Belgium is set to end direct aid to the Philippines, preferring instead to channel development assistance through non-governmental organizations and multilateral agencies.
Belgian ambassador to the Philippines Christian Tanghe said direct aid would only be until August 2007 when the Belgian Integrated Agrarian Reform Support Program (BIARSP) term ends.
He made this disclosure in the sidelines of his two-day visit late last week to projects in the Zamboanga Peninsula that are supported by Belgian aid.
However, he clarified that the country will continue to be "an important recipient" of Belgian development assistance.
After 2007, aid funds would flow through non-governmental organizations (NGO), multilateral agencies like the European Union development organizations and United Nations Development Program and indirect bilateral cooperation.
The Philippines is widely known for its vibrant civil society movement with so many NGOs and people's organizations actively engaged in community development processes.
BIARSP is one of the largest direct aid packages in the Belgian government's development assistance portfolio in the Philippines, with the Department of Land Reform as the lead agency in its implementation.
Started in 1997, BIARSP cost it P900 million plus P324 million in local counterpart.
It aims to make the agrarian reform effort work by going beyond the framework of "land-to-the-tiller" framework and providing the new landowners with support services for agricultural productivity as well as social services to their communities like basic education, potable water, sanitation and primary health care.
DLR claims it is nearing the peak of its land redistribution effort, stressing the need for support services as the primary requirement in order to make agrarian reform meaningful for beneficiaries.
BIARSP is implemented in eight provinces in the Central Visayas and Western Mindanao regions, most of which are known hotbeds of the communist insurgency fed by unresolved land tenure questions.
It is undertaken in a participatory manner whereby aid recipients get to identify their needs and recommend measures how to address these.
Apart from BIARSP, Belgium is also actively involved in a United Nations-initiated multilateral development program which aims to secure the economic foundations for peace in Central Mindanao after the national government and the Moro National Liberation Front inked a peace deal with on September 2, 1996.
Tanghe also explained that the current political crisis besetting the country does not affect the bilateral development cooperation between the two countries.
Belgium spends 0.7 percent of its gross domestic product for overseas development aid.
This is way above the slimly followed standard agreed by rich countries for development aid to poor nations.
(June 27, 2005 issue)
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