ILO, MNLF tie up to help disabled in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY - The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have agreed to jointly put up, with the help of a local cooperative, an institution that could rehabilitate disabled people in Maguindanao and teach them basic livelihood skills.

Rudolfo Baldemor, ILO manager for areas covered by the Sept. 2, 1996 government-MNLF peace agreement, said the project is also aimed at setting up a database of persons with disabilities while generating income to sustain its operation.

The ILO, the MNLF and the Mindanao Health Cooperative System, chaired by Samuel Pahm, signed a memorandum of understanding detailing the program's objectives during an executive forum of the front's 17 state chairmen in Southern Mindanao, in Makati City recently.

"The project, per se, will provide social protection mechanisms and services for persons with disabilities," Baldemor said.

He said the ILO and its partner-organizations will iron out the project's funding requirements soon.

The Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development, chaired by Gov. Nur Misuari of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, has rated the ILO as top implementor of socio-economic projects involving former MNLF fighters and their beneficiaries in areas devastated by the Mindanao conflict.

The ILO is one of six foreign donors which bankroll local projects complementing the government-MNLF peace accord.