Sunday, November 23, 2008 Ramos: Mindanao’s modernization By Former President Fidel V. Ramos (First of 2 parts)
AFTER the meltdown of the economies of the US, EU, Japan, etc. but with the encouraging prospects of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the US, it is time for our leaders to refocus again on Mindanao. Among our major island-groups, Mindanao is especially blessed with vast natural resources, large pool of talented people originating from diverse cultures, and geo-strategic position astride the great trade routes of the Asia-Pacific within the global economy.
It has the richest mix of nature’s bounties in terms of biodiversity and is an emerging tourism and investment destination due to its central location and growing competitiveness in agriculture and services.
Mindanao has become our new gateway of trade and investment because of its proximity to key markets – not only the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), but also the new "Central East Asia Growth Polygon (CEAGPOL)" consisting of Hongkong-Macau-Guangdong-Fujian-Taiwan and the Philippines.
Mindanao is distinct from Luzon and the Visayas because of its inherent role as "bridge" among Lumads (indigenous peoples), Muslims and Christians for attaining enduring peace and sustainable development. It contributes 34% of the national agricultural output and 44% of domestic food trade, and is the leading producer of rubber, cacao, pineapple, banana, coffee, cassava, corn and coconut. Its agricultural sector has been a main growth engine, despite inadequate infrastructure.
On the other hand, the high incidence of poverty and low human development mainly explain Mindanao’s vulnerability to armed conflict. It is the base of a long-running separatist movement – the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a splinter group of the mainstream MNLF, and the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). Renewed violence – with the abrupt shattering of a three-year-old ceasefire in April 2000 – has retarded socio-economic and political development in Mindanao because of the destruction of infrastructures, funds diverted to AFP and PNP operations to fight rebels, billions of dollars for investments driven away and, most damaging, continuing social costs due to the displacement and marginalization of millions of Mindanaoans ("internal refugees").
Equally tragic is the disruption of the fragile peace from which communities benefited following the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement in September 1996.
Becoming world-class: Cagayan de Oro and Davao City
Over the last 5 months, I made two trips to Mindanao, both times traversing one of its most important road networks connecting Cagayan de Oro City and Davao City, both of which are becoming world-class. The main highway between these agri-industrial, ecotourism, financial, communications, transportation and education centers is appropriately called "Miss-Bu-Da" (Misamis-Bukidnon-Davao), portions of which used to be called the Sayre Highway. My earlier trip was in July going north from Davao, and the later one in October going south from Cagayan de Oro. During that interval, shooting encounters took place in North Cotabato, Lanao Norte and Sarangani Provinces between MILF "Lost Commands" under Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar aka Bravo on one hand, versus the AFP-PNP on the Government side. Fortunately, none of the key population centers in Mindanao were substantially disturbed. And, in the case of the Miss-Bu-Da corridor, commerce and travel have remained normal.
The "Miss-Bu-Da" corridor
It was a refreshing eyeopener for me, as an old Mindanao hand, to find the Davao to Bukidnon two-lane highway fully concreted, and even being widened to four-lanes along about 20% of its length and beyond, with traffic consisting mostly of container-vans, cargo trucks, passenger buses and utility vehicles. At the Bu-Da border, one can take a break at any of several resorts like the "Seagull," whose facilities and quality of service are comparable to any in Tagaytay. Where 15-20 years ago there were still occasional bloody tribal incidents and MNLF incursions, that entire Miss-Bu-Da corridor is now a peaceful and well-secured route, and its border highlands dotted with weekend homes of well-to-do families, at a cool 1500 feet of elevation.
The drive from Cagayan de Oro City throughout the entire Bukidnon stretch into Davao City is one of the most beautiful, breath-taking, and sparkling green landscapes to be found in our God-blessed country. Other worthwhile stopovers to be visited are: the Del Monte Golf Course at Manolo Fortich; Malaybalay, the capital; the Central Mindanao University at Musuan; Valencia City and its NAPOCOR Pulangui River Hydro Powerplant; and the DPWH Quezon View Station in Bukidnon. And, just beyond is the Bu-Da-Cotabato "divide" where both the highway and the river separate in two directions – to the southeast to Davao via Calinan and southwest to North Cotabato via Carmen.
Prioritizing Mindanao
Deserving of our foremost attention, priority and focused support are Mindanao's disadvantaged people – particularly on the part of Malacañang, lawmakers, private business people, academe, inter-faith advocates, media, and anti-poverty NGOs. Too bad, the publicity and information about our "Land of Promise" is mostly negative – with the depredations by MILF and also NPA elements, and equally lethal operations by the AFP and PNP in response to clamors for protection by innocent civilians.
In all fairness, however, most of Mindanao and all of Palawan (included in BIMP-EAGA) are generally peaceful, and normal commerce goes on free of the violence that erupted in early August.
A lost opportunity
As previously discussed in this column (10 August), a great window of opportunity to mitigate the escalating Mindanao violence emerged after PGMA’s return from the 2008 Beijing Olympics wherein China trumpeted the theme "One Dream, One World" to highlight its modernizing achievements.
At that point, for our country’s sake, our elected leaders should have picked-up and equally focused on the goal "One Dream, One Philippines." But they did not. FVR proposed to PGMA a LEDAC meeting for mid-August among national leaders, regional executives, and Mindanao stakeholders who could have dialogued together under the umbrella of Malacañang, to bring hostilities down to manageable levels. More importantly, such a regrouping of leaders, stakeholders, and experts would have signalled – to our people and the world – our Government’s political will to pursue without let-up the "One Dream, One Philippines" aspiration of law-abiding/peace-loving Filipinos. But, that did not happen, because of other matters – less consequential – to which the leaders supposedly had to attend. Sayang (too bad)!
That rare opportunity passed and our leaders are back to government’s "business-as-usual" agenda characterized by inconclusive investigations ("in-aid-of-legislation" daw), pork barrel fattening, congressional junkets, and primetime pa-pogi TV-radio-press ads, photo-ops, etc. ....ad nauseum. Four months wasted – while Mindanaoans and the AFP-PNP continue bleeding – and irretrievably lost in restoring the GRP-MILF peace process back on track. Nevertheless, the window is still open, albeit more narrowly now, because of the Supreme Court’s ruling against the controversial MOA-Ancestral Domain.
Global/regional developments
But, it is time to concentrate again on Mindanao’s problems, given Asia-Pacific regional and worldwide developments, notably:
(1) Philippine ratification of the ASEAN Charter, reaffirming our commitment to peace, security and development in Southeast Asia;
(2) Official/private sector initiatives to advance BIMP-EAGA with the ASEAN Transportation Ministers’ Agreement on liberalized aviation policies last 6 November, plus the Manado, Indonesia conference among EAGA Chambers of Commerce highlighting trade and eco-tourism in fighting poverty;
(3) Failure of the WTO Doha Round on trade and investment liberalization, especially on the issue of a "level playing field" in agricultural products and technology transfer;
(4) Adoption and strong advocacy by the UN General Assembly of "Inter-Faith Dialogue," as a "weapons system" against international terrorism and for wider peace and understanding – where PGMA, former Speaker Jose de Venecia, and other Filipinos have played prominent roles; and last, but not least,
(5) Economic recession, already confirmed in the US, Japan, most of E.U. and some other parts of Asia and the Americas, and addressed by the (a) Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing last 24-25 October; (b) G-20 nations in last week’s summit in Washington D.C.; and (c) APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Lima, Peru this weekend.
Reviving the opportunities
All of the above developments have serious impacts on the Philippines, particularly in three regions of Mindanao where the problems of poverty, insurgency, separatism and cultural diversity are still intertwined, unlike in other regions which are enjoying conditions of relative peace and security. Mindanaoans appeal to our leaders: time again to regroup, focus, prioritize, integrate, energize and modernize.
Next Sunday, Abangan, Part 2: "The Mindanao Economic Development Council."
Please send any comments to fvr@rpdev.org. Copies of articles are available at www.rpdev.org. For backgrounders, revisit our previous Sunday sermons: "Time To Regroup The Philippine Team: War Is Not An Option" (10 August) and "War Is Not An Option – Don’t Sink The Ship" (17 August).
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