Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
At the commemoration of the first anniversary of the signing of the final peace agreement between the Government and the Moro National Liberation Front, and Multisectoral Assembly for the 30th Regional Cabinet Meeting
[Delivered in Jolo, Sulu, September 2, 1997]
A culture of peace for
the Philippine South
EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO, Filipinos as brothers and sisters agreed to walk the same path together to peace and development here in the South.
Today, the Cabinet is here in Jolo to join in our celebration of the first anniversary of the peace agreement signed in Malacañang between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), led by brother Nur Misuari. Looking back on this past year, we realize two important things.
The first is that peace does not just happen: people make peace happen. There is no greater force in bringing about peace than the desire for peace of ordinary people—and the patience and perseverance with which they work to see peace return to their communities.
The second is that our trust in one another is stronger than our differences; our collective courage has proved greater than our individual fears.
Our task of rebuilding the South is far from complete. One year is too short a time to restore to wholeness a society torn apart by nearly a quarter century of armed conflict and centuries of suspicion and isolation.
Reason for optimism
But we have reason for optimism. The agreement is on track—and we are happy to show our people—as well as the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference—both of which supported the peace process—that the peace agreement is working.
We—the Government and the MNLF—will continue to work together: and we will not stop until every Filipino who lives in the South is able to realize the fullest possibilities of his or her life.
This is why we place the highest priority on developing the potentials of our young people. This is the reason for being of the Sulu Manpower and Training Center, which I inspected before coming here. The Center is a joint project of the First Lady’s Helping Hand Foundation and the Provincial Government of Sulu—with a little help from the President’s Social Fund.
The Center offers training programs for various skills such as food processing, equipment repair and maintenance, computer operations and other occupations for the people of Sulu and its neighboring areas—particularly members of the MNLF.
Similar centers have been established in other parts of Mindanao.
We have also started to put in place infrastructure in the Special Zone of Peace and Development (SZOPAD) to stimulate progress in the areas under its coverage. Among the ongoing infrastructure and development projects in the SZOPAD are the flagship projects by the Government agencies, which total P15.9 billion.
These include national roads and bridges by the Department of Public Works and Highways at a cost of P2.8 billion; power generation and electrification by the Department of Energy at P2.4 billion; airports and fishing ports by the Department of Transportation and Communications at P792.4 million; and irrigation systems, farm-to-market roads and farm equipment by the Department of Agriculture at P715.7 million.
The Ramos Administration realizes the importance of upgrading the port of Jolo as Sulu’s main shipping facility. Not only Jolo but also Bongao will be developed into ports of entry. Jolo port is right now being paved and its wharf is being extended to relieve berth congestion, in accordance with the Philippine Ports Authority program of work.
Translating peace into growth
In short, my Administration is using the peace agreement to turn Mindanao into a centerpiece of development, and one of our country’s major links to global markets.
Within two to five years we want SZOPAD to become an area of vigorous growth where our people—Muslims, Christians and indigenous communities together—shall live in harmony in a culture of peace, unity and prosperity.
Peace is being translated into growth as more and more joint efforts between the Government and the private sector attract investments to the South, which is being enhanced by the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth-Area, begun under the Ramos Administration.
In 1993 the provinces and cities that were later to make up the SZOPAD area attracted P5.4 billion in private investments. By 1995 investments funneled into the same area reached P14.26 billion—a 164 percent increase. The Department of Trade and Industry forecasts investments in the SZOPAD to reach P16.32 billion by the end of this year.
New foreign investments in SZOPAD
The Iranian Government—in partnership with a local consortium—is investing US$1 billion in two new oil refineries in Iligan and Zamboanga cities. A Malaysian company is investing US$5 million in a shipping venture whose ships will ply the Zamboanga City-Jolo route.
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce plans its own set of projects in Mindanao: telecommunications, power plants and low-cost housing. And Spaniards, South Africans, Indonesians and Malaysians want to invest in a railroad construction project under the build-operate-transfer scheme.
Today, we witnessed the signing of six project agreements within SZOPAD, all involving our foreign friends who have become more confident about the prospects of Mindanao.
The first project, the World Bank assistance for the development of SZOPAD areas, will lend about US$10 million to finance an emergency social fund project to support small-scale development programs through local initiatives.
The second is a US$1.5-million grant from the Canadian Government to finance livelihood projects of former MNLF members. It covers capability building and livelihood activities for 1,300 regulars and their families in selected SZOPAD areas.
The other four projects—the building of a drainage system for Mariwasan Central School in Zamboanga City; a rice milling project in Zamboanga del Sur; two water supply projects, one for Zamboanga del Sur and one for Basilan—will all be funded by the Japanese Government.
Also in the pipeline is the Belgian Integrated Agrarian Reform Support Project. A US$30-million grant-funded project by the Belgian Government, it will provide basic services such as primary health care, basic education, agricultural productivity, and water supply and sanitation to the agrarian communities in Western Mindanao and Central Visayas.
Appreciation for friends and awardees
Let me now thank the donor-countries and agencies involved—the United Nations Development Program, the United States Agency for International Development and the Canadian International Development Assistance—for their fraternal generosity, through their representatives who are here with us today
And I reiterate our Government’s special gratitude to the member-countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, also with us here today, which helped bring about peace in our southern regions.
While we are all in this thanksgiving mood, I reiterate the appreciation of our people to the recipients of presidential citations: Chairman Nur Misuari, Rizal Pro Patria Award; Executive Secretary Ruben Torres and Congressman Eduardo Ermita, both Golden Heart Presidential Awards; Chairman Haydee Yorac, the Presidential Medal of Merit; General Aglani Maza, Philippine Legion of Honor Award; and Father Eliseo Mercado, Presidential Citation.
South’s resources must benefit South’s people
One of the key objectives of my Administration’s blueprints for Mindanao’s development is to bring down poverty from today’s 47 percent to 30 percent in the near future, and to 15 percent by the year 2010.
Among the 14 provinces in SZOPAD, eight have a poverty incidence of above 50 percent. Poverty is highest in Zamboanga del Norte at 62 percent; followed by Sulu at 60 percent. The lack of basic social services is most acute here in Sulu—where only 9 percent of all households have access to electricity, and in Tawi-Tawi, where only 14 percent of households have safe drinking water.
Our efforts at development aim to remedy this situation. We want the benefits from the rich resources of the South to benefit people who live here—before they benefit any other regions. Our Social Reform Agenda seeks to enhance every Filipino family’s capability to provide for its basic necessities for shelter, food and decent livelihood. In Sulu today, I saw examples of how the Government is delivering these basic services.
Before coming here, I inspected the Kamahardikaan Housing project for 2,500 families in Indanan, Sulu. This is a joint undertaking of the National Housing Authority, the Provincial Government of Sulu, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Corps of Engineers to achieve our avowed goal to provide affordable homes to our poor.
Today we are also launching the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project of the Department of Public Works and Highways. This is a nationwide project that will be carried out first of all in Sulu and in 19 other provinces identified as priority areas under the Social Reform Agenda.
Dealing with last problems
Besides the approved P12-million livelihood fund from the President’s Social Fund, we are releasing to the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) the additional amount of P3 million for capability-building projects by organized cooperatives in seven provinces in the SZOPAD.
Even as we pursue our economic and social reforms, we continue to deal with our remaining peace and order problems in the South. On July 18, 1997, the negotiating panels of the Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed an agreement to cease hostilities between their forces.
In closing, let me remind everyone that the ultimate responsibility for the success of our efforts at peace and development rests with each of us—the leaders and the people of Mindanao.
I therefore urge the officials under the umbrella of the SPCPD and the ARMM to use judiciously the resources allocated to their areas. We cannot afford to waste our scarce resources in projects chosen for their political visibility alone. We must invest our limited means in priority projects that benefit the greater number. And this judiciousness we owe not only to ourselves but also to the peacemakers who made peace possible.
A springboard for Southern prosperity
I envision SZOPAD to become the springboard for the development and prosperity of the Southern Philippines. This small but historic island of Sulu will then be able to reclaim the importance it had in the 17th and 18th centuries—when Sulu was the vital center of a great trading area whose linkages stretched as far as India and China. And the whole of the South shall then become a pivot of the Philippine effort to carve a niche for itself in the global economy of the 21st century.
I ask you to remain united in vision, united in facing the challenges of the future and united in the spirit of teamwork in rebuilding our beloved Philippines, and in winning peace and development in Mindanao.
Now that we have peace, let us preserve it and make it work for our country’s progress!