Basilan, Tawi-tawi execs want Japanese, German agencies in ICG

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/19 Sept) -- Local executives in Basilan and Tawi-tawi are endorsing the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) to play key roles in the international contact group (ICG) set up by the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The government and MILF signed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last Tuesday a framework agreement on the establishment of the ICG, which will consist of “interested countries accompanying the peace process preferably drawn from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the European Union (EU) as well as accredited INGO(s) to be invited by the Parties in consultation with the Third Party Facilitator.”

Mayor Roderick Furigay of Lamitan City said they want JICA to be given a big role in the ICG. “JICA has many projects in areas where there are MILF forces. These projects are flourishing now and are benefiting Muslim and Christian residents in many parts of Mindanao,” he said.

Ustadz Farid Solaiman Adas, chief of the Madaris Education Bureau in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said JICA, in fact, just started winding up its multi-million study of essential road network that would link trading centers in the ARMM to far-flung, underdeveloped towns.

Tawi-Tawi’s vice governor, Ruby Sahali-Tan, said they also want the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) of Germany to participate extensively in the ICG.

The KAS, through its local partner, the Institute on Autonomy and Governance, has been helping hone the public administration skills and “civilian protection capability” of local leaders, officials of the MILF, the police and the military through capacity-building projects and continuing cross-section dialogues among all stakeholders in the Mindanao peace process.

The KAS and IAG have jointly initiated dozens of peacekeeping workshops for soldiers, policemen, MILF leaders, elected officials in the past four years.

Supt. Danilo Bacas, spokesman of the ARMM police, said they are in favor of JICA becoming a “pioneer member” of the ICG.

“The only non-Muslim country that deployed a representative to the International Monitoring Team (IMT) that helped enforce the ceasefire between the government and the MILF from 2004 to late 2008 was Japan,” Bacas said.

Both JICA and KAS have been helping in the peace process in Mindanao. But the two peace panels, however, have yet to come up with guidelines on accreditation of INGOs or the admission of interested countries into the ICG.

The ICG, according to the Sept. 15, 2009 agreement will perform the following functions: “attend and observe the face-to-face negotiations upon invitation by the Parties with the concurrence of the Facilitator; conduct visits, exchange views, and give advice on discreet basis in coordination with the Parties and the Facilitator; seek out the assistance of recognized experts, resource persons or groups on specific issues in order to support the Parties; and meet upon request by any of the Parties at various levels to help resolve substantive issues based on agreed agenda.”

“Mindful of the interests of the stakeholders to benefit from and expect significant peace dividends from the ICG mission, the Parties will designate INGOs that will be accredited along with their named local NGO partners,” the Framework Agreement says.

In relation to the functions of the ICG, the INGO, it said, will perform the following roles: “engage and act as a bridge between the Parties, ICG, Facilitator and their local partners and civil society in support of the peace process; exchange views, provide research inputs, give feedback and advice to the Parties in coordination with the Facilitator; and establish communication channels in furtherance of peace process advocacy.” (Malu Cadelina-Manar/MindaNews with reports from MindaNews-Davao)


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