Canada vows $10-M Mindanao aid

Canada is to pour nearly $10 million in aid to strife-torn Mindanao, a ranking Canadian official with roots here said yesterday.

Canada’s newly appointed Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific Dr. Rey Pagtakhan paid a courtesy call on President Arroyo yesterday to say that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) would be spending 60 percent of its budget for the Philippines this year in Mindanao.

"Sixty percent of our ODA (official development assistance) here in your country will go to Mindanao. We intend to keep it and we remain supportive of your government’s efforts to bring about peace and development (in the region)," said Pagtakhan, who was born in Manila 65 years ago.

Pagtakhan is the second most senior government official Mrs. Arroyo has received since assuming power on the back of a popular revolt last month, after US Secretary of State Ralph Boyce who called on her two days after the uprising.

CIDA officials in Manila said $16.3 million has been earmarked in aid to the Philippines this year, with about $9.8 million going to various projects including livelihood projects in the South.

They said pouring development aid into the South was part of a commitment Canada earlier made to the government to help residents in Mindanao, where Muslim separatists have been fighting government troops for more than two decades.

The Canadian government was pleased with Mrs. Arroyo’s "peaceful approach to the resolution of the issue," Pagtakhan said.

Mrs. Arroyo has named new negotiating panels to resume talks with the separatists, who broke off contact when her predecessor Joseph Estrada declared all-out war against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Aside from aid to the south, Canada is also committed to help finance the extension project of the Light Rail Transit from Baclaran to Cavite, Pagtakhan said.

SNC Lavalin, a Canadian firm, had won the contract to build the LRT extension project, and negotiations for the implementation agreement with the Light Rail Transit Authority are expected to be completed in two to three months.

The project is expected to cost $600 million, Canadian officials said.

Pagtakhan noted that Manila’s special envoy to North America Raul Rabe was currently also in Canada "to drum up support" for investments in Manila.

"Trade volume between our two countries is excellent ... and we would like to continue to enhance this trade," said Pagtakhan, at the same time noting total trade volume between the two countries was at $1.8 billion in favor of the Philippines.

The secretary of state also conveyed the greetings and support of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien to Mrs. Arroyo.

"Indeed, we indicated to her how proud the prime minister is (of) her ascendancy to the presidency... two of her priorities... good governance and poverty alleviation are very much in the agenda as well of the Canadian government," Pagtakhan said.

Pagtakhan was accompanied by Canadian Ambassador Robert Collette, who announced that Chretien asked his secretary of state to travel to Manila immediately after the peaceful transition of government known as people power II. – AFP, Marichu Villanueva, Marianne Go

At a press briefing following his courtesy call, Pagtakhan disclosed how he reiterated the official recognition and expression of support by the government of Canada to the new administration.

"Canada was one of the first of the few countries that congratulated her on her leadership and to the presidency as well," Pagtakhan said, referring to the President’s taking office after the ouster of disgraced President Joseph Estrada last Jan. 20.

Pagtakhan, who hails from Cavite but was born in Manila in 1935, migrated to Canada in 1968. He graduated from the University of the Philippines and took his post-graduate studies at the University of Manitoba and the Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Pagtakhan is a professor of pediatrics and child health and is a lung disease specialist.

Pagtakhan was first elected to Canada’s Parliament in 1988 for the constituency of Winnipeg North and recently won a fourth consecutive term.

He first visited the Philippines in 1995 when he was still the parliamentary assistant to the prime minister and met with then President Fidel Ramos.

He returned to the Philippines two years later as part of the official delegation of Prime Minister Chretien who made a state visit accompanied by "Team Canada" trade mission.

Pagtakhan told Palace reporters yesterday it was sheer hard work and determination, coupled with a high level of education, that helped him make it to his present position in the Canadian bureaucracy.

He also said it also helped that there is no racial discrimination in Canada which in fact protects and promotes cultural diversity in their country.

"Canada believes in the immigrants... in the talents, skills and contributions to our cultural mosaic and the many values they will bring in to our country," he said, adding however that they also have to pass medical and national security tests.

There is a demand for computer technology skilled workers and nurses in Canada, Pagtakhan said.