File photo/THEPHILBIZNEWS
By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
True to its commitment to peace and confidence-building initiatives in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the rehabilitation of Marawi City, the European Union (EU) has extended a new grant worth 24.5 million Euros (approximately US$ 28.8 million) to the Philippines to help strengthen the government’s ongoing peace and confidence-building initiatives in the Bangsamoro autonomous region and assist in the recovery and rehabilitation of Marawi City in Mindanao.
According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III who signed on Aug. 11 the Financing Agreement (FA) for the Mindanao Peace and Development Programme (MINPAD)-Peace and Development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MINPAD-PD BARMM), under the agreement, EUR5 million of the grant shall be exclusively dedicated to the recovery and rehabilitation of areas devastated during the 2017 siege of Marawi City, while about EUR3 million will be allocated for the BARMM’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the autonomous region.
The PD BARMM project will be jointly implemented by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) within five years or 60 months after the execution of the FA.
“This third grant from the EU this year underpins this major economic bloc’s unwavering commitment to the attainment of genuine and lasting peace and development in Southern Philippines along with the speedy recovery of conflict-devastated Marawi City,” Secretary Dominguez said upon the signing the FA.
“We cannot thank enough the EU and our other development partners for their ceaseless support for government efforts to spell peace in Mindanao and enable the island to achieve its full growth potentials on the Duterte watch,” he added.
The FA signed by Secretary Dominguez for the PD BARMM project brings to EUR85 million the total amount of grants provided by the EU so far this year for the government’s peace and development initiatives in Mindanao.
Last month, the EU extended two grants amounting to a combined EUR 60.5 million (about US$67.9 million) to the Philippine government to assist in its ongoing peacebuilding and development efforts in Mindanao with a focus on strengthening the institutions of the newly formed Bangsamoro autonomous government, creating jobs and improving community-based infrastructure in the island’s agricultural communities.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and EU Chargé d’ affaires ad interim Thomas Wiersing
During the Ceremonial Exchange of Financing Agreements for 2 Program Grants for Mindanao last July 17
These grants were for the Mindanao Peace and Development Programme-RISE Mindanao (MINPAD-RISE Mindanao), for which the EU provided a EUR35.5 million grant, and the Support to Bangsamoro Transition (SUBATRA), which received a grant of EUR 25 million.
For the PD BARMM, which has a total estimated cost of EUR35.1 million the EU member-states will co-finance the project with the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Australian government.
The EU will provide the biggest share in the PD BARMM project with its EUR24.5 million grant, while the other donors will contribute and indicative amount of EUR10 million. Other potential grant beneficiaries will provide the remaining EUR 600,000.
According to the Department of Finance (DOF), the project aims to improve the “social cohesion and resilience of the communities in the Bangsamoro region” and contribute to the development of a “peaceful, cohesive, secure and inclusively developed Mindanao.”
On top of assisting in the early recovery, relief, and rehabilitation of conflict-hit areas in the BARMM, the project is expected to improve and expand the mechanisms for dialogue and mediation among diverse groups in the region by way of improving their capacity to take part in the government’s peace- and confidence-building initiatives in Mindanao, the DOF said.
On the EUR3 million allocation for BARMM’s COVID-response efforts, the DOF said the EU has already received proposals from the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the French humanitarian organization Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) on addressing health-related issues in the region.
The EU also confirmed that after the conclusion of the FA, separate contribution agreements will be negotiated between the European Commission and the World Bank as a third-party administrator of the Bangsamoro Normalization Trust Fund (BNTF), the DOF said.
The BNTF, a multi-donor trust fund that was established after the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), aims to finance, coordinate and oversee the delivery of assistance from international partners and other donors in the implementation of programs that would help decommissioned combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) return to the mainstream of society and henceforth lead peaceful, productive lives in the South.