Determined to spread the dividends of peace to strife-torn communities in  Mindanao, Japan has set in motion eight new grassroots human security projects and raised to P6 billion the grand total of official development assistance it has committed to its “Bangsamoro Initiatives” since 2006.
 
“Japan has been our faithful companion in the peace process. They have stayed with us through the most trying times and with a readiness to wager in our ability as a people to find the peace that we really want and desire,” said Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Deles during the signing of the grant contracts for the eight new projects worth P34 million.
 
“It is not the money,” Ambassador Toshinao Urabe said. “What is important is for individuals (in Mindanao) to achieve their full potentials.”
 
As a member of the International Contact Group, Japan helps facilitate the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front—a role which rose to prominence when it hosted talks between President Benigno Aquino III and MILF leaders in Tokyo last August.
 
The construction of four school buildings, two post-harvest facilities with agricultural equipment, a training center, and hospital equipment are components of the new package of development grants.
 
“A project to help small-scale farmers by building irrigation, post-harvest facilities, and access roads to markets is also in the pipeline,” Urabe said.
 
The projects will be implemented in Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato and Maguindanao under the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD) assistance program.
 
J-BIRD was launched in December 2006.
 
“Since then, the total amount of assistance of J-BIRD through the Japanese ODA (official development assistance) mechanism has reached P6 billion. This has touched the lives of Mindanaoans in concrete ways—access to water, roads, school buildings, health centers, shelter for the displaced, food for the hungry,” Secretary Deles emphasized.
 
The ceasefire mechanisms of the GPH-MILF peace process—the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities of the GPH and the MILF, and the International Monitoring Team (IMT)—are partners in implementing the J-BIRD initiatives in communities, according to the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process.

GPH refers to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and MILF to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Japan’s peacemaker role in the Philippines has precedents, the Japanese envoy noted.
 
“What happened in Cambodia, 1993 is a good example. Japan played an important role in the process. Japan is also making efforts to build peace in Afghanistan, Middle East, and South Sudan,” Urabe said.
 
IMT Head of Mission Maj. Gen. Dato Mahdi Bin Yusuff and IMT senior advisors  Naoyuki Ochiai and Kei Fukunaga witnessed the contract signing Thursday.

Local officials of recipient communities also on hand were Alamada Mayor Bartolome Lataza Jr., Magpet Mayor Efren Piñol, Sultan sa Barongis Mayor Datu Allandatu Angas, and Wao Mayor Elvino Balicao Jr.
 
Civil society partners in the J-BIRD projects are the Philippine Foundation for Resources Management Inc., the Muslim Youth Religious Organization Inc. and the Cotabato Sanitarium. — Earl Victor Rosero/VS, GMA News