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Monday, September 19, 2005
Mindanao remains major US aid beneficiary
By Al Jacinto
MINDANAO continues to be the main beneficiary of the aid that the United States is pouring annually to the Philippines in an effort to help develop the troubled region, often used as springboard for terror attacks by the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
Jon Lindborg, mission director of the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid), said Mindanao gets most of the $9 million annual assistance to the Philippines, mostly through development projects.
He said that while they are talking of project assistance to the Philippines back in Washington, their focus is on Mindanao.
"Of the $9 million annual assistance of Usaid to Philippines, Mindanao gets 60 percent of the fund," he said.
Filipino troops, backed by US military forces, are battling not only the Abu Sayyaf group, but also the local communist insurgent group New People's Army (NPA) and rouge members of the country's largest separatist rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Jemaah Islamiya terror network.
Manila is also now focusing its development projects in Mindanao and at the same time stepping up security operations to bring peace and order and attract investors in the timber and mineral-rich region.
Lindborg said it is in Mindanao where they have great returns of their investments in terms of the economy and business activity. "The enterprise is very much alive here in Mindanao and despite the series of challenges they were able to meet them," he said.
A current Usaid project in Mindanao called Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood skills (EQualls) are expected to benefit thousands elementary or high school drop outs.
In August, Lindborg, accompanied by US Chargé d'Affaires to Manila Darryl Johnson and Usaid Economic Development and Governance chief Robert Wuertz, inaugurated a seaport and donated boxes of books to a government-run school in Basilan island.
Johnson's group also handed over to Filipino officials a 70-meter hanging footbridge built by US and Filipino troops in Lizon Valley in the outskirts of Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province.
Called the Bayanihan Bridge, officials said it cost more than $12,000 and was built over several weeks.
Aside from EQualls, Usaid also launched its Computer Literacy and Internet Connection or CLIC program that is concentrated in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao and has so far benefited about 125,000 students in more than 200 schools.
Other Usaid projects in Mindanao include the Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (Amore), which helps provide power to small and rural villages, and the Livelihood Enhancement and Peace (Leap) program that helps assist former members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) make the transition from guerrillas to productive farmers and fishermen. Leap has helped more than 24,000 former rebels in Mindanao. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(September 19, 2005 issue)
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11 terror groups operate in country: solon