Philippines signs $28.8-M grant with EU for Mindanao peace efforts
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has secured a third tranche of aid from the European Union to fund peace initiatives in restive parts of Mindanao and the delayed rehabilitation of conflict-torn Marawi City.
In a statement on Monday, the finance department said 24.5 million euros (approximately $28.8 million) will be given out by the economic bloc to the country under the peace and development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) component of the Mindanao Peace and Development Programme.
The financing agreement for the grant, which means funds will be granted for free, was signed last Aug. 11 by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Pierre Amilhat of the European Commission, the governing body of the EU.
“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,” Dominguez said in a statement.
Before the latest grant, the EU also extended last month two separate funding cumulatively worth around 60.5 million euros to BARMM, the newly formed autonomous region seen as one of the answers to the decades-long armed struggle in the South as well as terrorism.
The third grant finances a large part peace program worth 35.1 million euros. Under the agreement, EU will fund 24.5 million euros, while the World Bank, United Nations and Australia contribute a combined 10 million euros. The balance of 600,000 euros will come from “other potential grant beneficiaries.”
Of the total amount, 5 million euros will “exclusively” go to the reconstruction of Marawi City, a delayed government effort to rehabilitate areas stormed by ISIS-linked terrorists in May 2017. Another 3 million euros, meanwhile, will go to coronavirus-related programs of BARMM.
Where the rest of the funding will be earmarked for remain unclear.
According to the finance agency, the third round of funding to Mindanao aims to “improve the social cohesion and resilience of the communities in the Bangsamoro region.” The project is expected to bolster dialogue and mediation among conflict groups in the area.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who hails from Davao City in Mindanao, signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law in 2018 that paved the way for a referendum that established BARMM which widened the scope and power of the previous Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“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 (under) Duterte’s watch,” Dominguez said.
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