MILF gets P25.9-M farm equipment

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Officials on Wednesday turned over to communities controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) P25.9 million worth of farm equipment in support of the socio-economic agenda of the government-MILF peace initiative.

The farm machineries were turned over by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, representatives from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Amalia Jayag-Datukan, director for Region 12 of the Department of Agriculture (DA), to MILF leaders in a simple rite at Sultan Kudarat town in the first district of Maguindanao.

ARMM’s regional agriculture secretary, Alexander Alonto, also helped facilitate the distribution of the agricultural inputs, which included rice and corn seeds and orchard seedlings, to MILF peasants, whose lands are located in government-acknowledged guerilla enclaves in Maguindanao, a component province of the autonomous region.

Also present in the event were DA officials from Region 10 and a senior member of the government’s peace panel, Senen Bacani.

Alcala and Bacani both said the initial dispersal of the farm equipment was part of the government’s effort to hasten the restoration of normalcy in areas where there are forces of the MILF.

“This is in line with the government’s commitment to address poverty and underdevelopment in areas covered by the Mindanao peace process,” Alcala told reporters present in the event.

Bacani said the thrust is one of the interventions being initiated under the “Camps Transformation Program,” meant to push the conversion of MILF enclaves into productive agricultural zones.

The program is supported by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The equipment Alcala released to MILF communities were comprised of six heavy-duty 90 horsepower farm tractors with accessories, six mechanized cassava graters, three hand tractors, six portable corn shellers and six corn mills.

Alcala, Bacani, and Alonto also dispersed to MILF members thousands of rambutan, lanzones and jackfruit seedlings for them to diversify their farms.

DA officials in Alcala’s entourage said the agriculture department is also set to release to MILF communities within the next three months watercrafts, fish traps, goats and cattle to hasten the productivity of guerillas engaged in fishing and livestock-raising.