Japan Takes A More Active Role in the Mindanao Peace Process
(Dispatch of Japanese Personnel to the International Monitoring Team, etc.)

July 23, 2006

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro ASO held bilateral meetings today with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo. Minister ASO is in Manila for "Philippines-Japan Friendship Day" to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Japan. During the meetings, Minister ASO informed President Arroyo and Secretary Romulo of Japan's decision to dispatch a development expert to the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and of other new Japanese initiatives in regard to the Mindanao Peace Process. He also conveyed to them Japan's desire to contribute more actively to the peace process by assisting those living in conflict-affected areas who have endured many hardships brought about by a protracted conflict and, through these new initiatives, enabling them to achieve a lasting peace in Mindanao. President Arroyo and Secretary Romulo welcomed Japan's move to play a more active role in the Mindanao Peace Process and expressed their appreciation for the said initiatives.

1. Dispatch of a Development Expert to the IMT

The IMT - composed of Malaysia, Brunei, and Libya - has been operating in Mindanao since October 2004, after the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed the ceasefire agreement in July 2003. Owing to the IMT's presence, the peace and order situation in the conflict-affected areas has dramatically improved. Under these circumstances, the GRP and the MILF formally invited Japan to dispatch an expert who can play a leading role in "socio-economic monitoring," which is one of the IMT's two important pillars, the other being "ceasefire monitoring." The expert to be dispatched shall hold office in Cotabato City where IMT's headquarters is located and is expected to monitor the rehabilitation and economic development situation in the MILF conflict-affected areas, and likewise take an active role in the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive economic development plan for the area.

2. Establishment of the Mindanao Task Force

Having decided to dispatch a development expert to the IMT, the Government of Japan instructed the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, the JICA, and the JBIC to set up a "Mindanao Task Force" that would fully support the said expert and ensure that the latter accomplishes his duties efficiently. The Task Force - together with the said expert and in close cooperation with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) - will formulate a development plan for the area, and coordinate with concerned groups and agencies for the effective implementation of projects such as the "Grant Assistance For Grassroots Human Security Projects" (GGP), Grant Aid, Technical Cooperation, and Yen Loan in such a way that those projects will help bring peace to the entire Mindanao region.

3. Concentration of the Implementation of "Grant Assistance For Grassroots Human Security Projects" in Central Mindanao

Japan decided to implement the "Grant Assistance For Grassroots Human Security Projects" by focusing on regional development projects, entrusting that responsibility to the Mindanao Task Force. It is aimed at ensuring that the projects will directly benefit the people at the grassroots level and enable them to experience the "dividends of peace" through such undertakings as the construction of school classrooms, vocational training centers, water supply systems, and health care centers in the MILF conflict-affected areas of Central Mindanao. Japan seeks to implement more than ten (10) projects within a year in the area. Prior to the decision, the Embassy of Japan sent a research mission to Cotabato City in June this year and held a briefing session to explain GGP schemes to local stakeholders. The Embassy is now in the process of formulating projects for the local NGOs and schools in cooperation with the OPAPP and the BDA. These GGP initiatives to BDA are very unique and epoch-making ones since Japan is considered as the first foreign country to extend these kind of substantial assistance where the grassroots people can feel the "dividend of peace" through BDA which is the inner agency in charge of rehabilitation and development of MILF, one of the rebel groups, even before the final peace agreement is signed between GRP and MILF.

(Reference)

International Monitoring Team (IMT)

With a membership of about 60 people, the IMT has its headquarters in Cotabato City while each of its five Team Sites is located in the cities of Cotabato, Iligan, Zamboanga, General Santos, and Davao. The IMT's jurisdiction covers 14 of Mindanao's 21 provinces.

Japan's Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP)

Japan started its GGP in 1989. So far, it has carried out 367 projects throughout the Philippines, of which 110 projects (or about one-third of the total) are in Mindanao.

Assistance to BDA

JICA has started "Capacity Building Program for Peace Building in Mindanao", the project to BDA, in cooperation with OPAPP, in July this year.