MILF, gov't program grant over 600 college scholarships

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines  -- The Sajahatra Bangsamoro joint peace and development program of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front now has 639 college scholars, mostly children of active MILF members.

The GPH and MILF panels announced on Tuesday, after a presentation on Sajahatra services at the Bangsamoro Leadership Management Institute in Simuay District in Sultan Kudarat, that aside from the scholarship grants, 11,000 Moro folks have also been made members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. under the joint socio-economic initiative.

The Sajahatra program, launched jointly in February 2013 by President Benigno Aquino III and the MILF’s figurehead, Al-Haj Murad, seeks to improve the delivery of government services to underdeveloped Moro communities in Southern Mindanao.

Murad was among the initial batch of MILF members awarded with Philhealth membership cards during last year's Sajahatra launching.

The government’s chief negotiator, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, and her counterpart in the MILF, Muhaquer Iqbal, were among the special guests to Tuesday's Sajahatra presentation program.

Ferrer had told reporters, in a press conference after the event, that the joint socio-economic initiatives of the government and the MILF have been gaining headway and that both sides have been closely working together to achieve the Sajahatra objectives.