RIYADH, 6 April 2007 — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is upbeat on the reported increase in the development aid to Mindanao by the United States government, but urged it to do it “in support of the peace process between the MILF and the Manila government”.
Jun Mantawil, chairman of the MILF peace panel, said in an interview that the MILF is not anti-development but sees to it that aid to Mindanao doesn’t undermine the struggle of the Bangsamoro people for right to self-determination and freedom.
“We can prevent this problem,” Mantawil stressed, “by either these projects related strongly with the MILF Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) or the MILF itself.”
In recent months, the US government through officials in Manila has shown increasing coordination with the MILF.
The US intends to pour $145 million for Mindanao development from 2008 to 2012 under an ongoing program titled “Growth with Equity in Mindanao” (GEM), administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The GEM program has been USAID’s principal activity in Mindanao since 1996. The GEM was initially set to expire in 2001 but was extended.
Raymond L. Edler, USAID supervisory regional contracting officers, said his office is looking for a contractor to implement development programs in Mindanao, home to 22 million Filipinos, most of whom are Muslim.
Bids are being accepted through April 27 for infrastructure development, with each sub-regional project costing between $5,000 and $50,000.
Regional projects are estimated to have construction costs between $50,000 and $4 million.
This will be the third GEM phase. GEM Phase II, which is winding down, involved so-called “livelihood development” whose primary contractor is Louis Berger Group Phils., Inc.
