Tuesday, April 03, 2007 MILF hails $145-M US aid for Mindanao By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed the $145 million in aid to be granted by the US government for the development of Mindanao in the next five years.
Jun Mantawil, chair of the MILF peace panel secretariat, urged the US government though to ensure that the aid would not be used as counter-insurgency tool against the MILF but instead "in support of the peace process between the MILF and the Philippine government."
"We can prevent this problem by either these projects related strongly with the MILF Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) or the MILF itself," Mantawil said in a report posted at the MILF's official website, luwaran.com.
Infrastructure projects worth $5,000 to $50,000 will be implemented in the barangay levels while "regional-impact projects" will be allotted with budgets ranging from $50,000 up to $4 million.
Aside from the basic contract of up to $145 million, the new five-year program is allocating $12 million to $16 million for optional components.
In recent months, the US government, through its embassy or USAid officials in Manila, has shown increasing coordination with the MILF.
Several of their officials have already met with MILF officials to discuss multilateral issues including development in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao especially where the MILF is very active.
