US Peace Corps volunteers barred from Mindanao areas

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  – United States Peace Corps volunteers to the country are prohibited to work in Mindanao “for obvious reasons,” according to Milosil Cruz, response program coordinator of the US Peace Corps program.

Cruz, who attended the executive meeting of the Provincial Development Council, presided over by Gov. Edgar Chatto last Friday, bared this during his presentation of the Peace Corps program to Bohol officials.

He showed to the PDC members a power point presentation of the country’s map showing the entire Mindanao and territorial islets in the south, south of Palawan island and some parts of Luzon where the volunteers are banned from being assigned for their security’s sake. He did not elaborate, however.

Peace Corps is a volunteer service organization establish by the late US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1961, said Cruz. Since then, it has more than 178,000 volunteers who served the world in various capacities.

In the Philippines, the organization has about 8,000 volunteers serving in schools, non-government organizations and government agencies as partners for 50 years already.

Empowering communities in the country is the vision of the organization, with its goals to help people meet their needs by trained manpower; promote better understanding of the people they served; and understanding of the American people.

Cruz, however, clarified that the Peace Corps is not an office of the US Embassy, and it is neither a funding agency nor a faith-based organization. (FREEMAN)