JICA president tours Southern ceasefire areas

COTABATO CITY — The president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is optimistic that a final peace accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will be forged.

Sadako Ogata, who arrived here yesterday to inspect the JICA-funded projects that complement the Mindanao peace process, assured the community of the agency’s continuing assistance to the socio-economic development of Mindanao, including impoverished areas where secessionist rebels reside.

Ogata visited various JICA projects JICA here, including those being implemented by the Notre Dame Foundation for Charitable Activities and the Center for the Handicapped at the Dominican-owned Notre Dame Hospital here.

Ogata also held a closed-door meeting with the members of the central committee of the MILF in Darapanan District in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. Details of the meeting were not revealed to the media, however.

The Japanese government has earlier announced its plan to deploy representatives to the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT), which is helping oversee the ceasefire between the government and the MILF.

Peace talks between the government and the MILF started on Jan. 7, 1997, but gained momentum only about three years ago with the participation of Malaysia as "third party mediator."

"The government of Japan has been continuing assistance for economic development by infrastructure improvement through various means, such as loans, grants and technical assistance," Ogata said, obviously referring to the humanitarian activities of JICA in Southern Mindanao.

Ogata said JICA, through its application of "human security," is effectively working on the achievement of its priority development agenda in the Philippines.

The Japanese government, through JICA and the Japan Ban for International Cooperation, has been helping rebuild war-devastated communities in areas covered by the ceasefire for almost a decade now.

Among the projects being funded by the Japanese government, along with the World Bank, are being implemented by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Social Fund Project, of ASFP.

The ASFP, which is operating under the office of ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, is overseeing dozens of projects designed to improve the productivity of farmers in many potential flashpoint areas in the autonomous region.

The bulk of JICA grants are poured yearly into the ARMM, earmarked for programs that help alleviate Moro communities from underdevelopment and displacement caused by recent armed conflicts in the area. — John Unson