GMA urged to adopt program to convert ex-MILF strongholds in Maguindanao to aggie centers

Former Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara today asked the Arroyo administration to just adopt the original program to convert the former MILF strongholds in Maguindanao into agricultural production centers to break the impasse on what to do with the areas.

"There is a complete government program for the full utilization of the said areas into thriving agro-fishery centers. There is a P450 million fund set aside for the purpose. I see this as the logical solution to the heated debate on whether or not the MILF should recover their former base," said Angara, a leading senatorial candidate of the opposition LDP-Puwersa.

Angara said that the MILF members who are willing to "turn their swords into plowshares" should be the main beneficiaries of the program. This was the central idea behind HELP-MC, or Help to the Muslim Communities, which Angara had prepared during his term as agriculture secretary to help develop the vast agro-industrial potentials of the former MILF strongholds.

The Arroyo administration is right now in a quandary over the demand of the MILF to get back its former camps, a precondition for the group’s participation in the peace process. Several elements in the military are opposed to the return of the former MILF camps.

Angara said the former MILF camps and strongholds, while underutilized, have great agriculture and fishery potentials.

Under the HELP-MC, the government is to spend P450 million within five years to develop farms for traditional and high-value crops, fish culture business and livestocks and hog farms.

The government will put in the seed money for the initial phase of the production, build the infrastructure projects needed, and develop the marketing support.

A credit for the producers shall also be established under the program.