The United Nations Development Program is helping the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao chart its development course through transparent and participatory local governance.
Interim Chief Minister Hadji Murad Ibrahim lauded the UNDP-Philippines “for their continuing support for the development of the Bangsamoro” and this time, on establishing transparency-based programs on resource utilization and participatory governance.
Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, BARMM Minister of Local Governments (MLG), said Murad is being thankful to President Rodrigo Duterte for his approval Tuesday of the Executive Order on the implementation of Normalization Program in the Bangsamoro area.
The UNDP-Philippines has partnered with civil society organizations and individuals for Bangsamoro visioning sessions on sustainable development held prior to the BARMM governance turnover from ARMM. The forums were held in nine clustered Bangsamoro areas, and were also attended by non-Moro community stakeholders from Cotabato, Zamboanga and Palawan provinces.
Murad, who also chairs the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said early delivery of peace commitments effectively marks the “transformation of the MILF from a revolutionary group to a governing organization.”
The UNDP has facilitated a number of peace dialogues in support to the Philippine peace process with the MILF, including an engaging visit to the Philippines (including Moro areas) last year of UN legal expert and constitutionalist Rohan Edrisinha, a senior Constitutional Advisor for the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
A Normalization Program has been provided under the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), and is aimed at achieving a “desired quality of life, which includes the pursuit of sustainable livelihood and political participation within a peaceful deliberative society.”
The FAB Annex aims to intensify efforts to rehabilitate, reconstruct, and develop the Bangsamoro region. It also provides for the creation of a transitional justice program to address the Bangsamoro people’s grievances, correct historical injustices, and tackle human rights violations.
A series of Visioning Exercises by representatives of various sectors has been supported by the UNDP-Philippines to enable Moro and non-Moro sectors to help chart the course of development efforts with the BARMM.
The participants were about to present to Bangsamoro leaders print outputs from their consultation-series on the different aspects of sustainable development they have envisioned for the region but prior schedules were overtaken by events.
The document has been prepared and edited from actual narratives and sessions output by Insider Mediators (IM) trained by the UNDP-Philippines, and is being reviewed by the Office of UNDP Country Director Titon Mitra.
The MILF Normalization Experience is seen to evolve into an international peace settlement model of what UN legal experts call an “identity-based” political conflict. The Northern Ireland Experience in the Good Friday Agreement first implemented its version of normalization program through a DDR—Désarmement, Démobilisation et Réinsertion (French: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration). Nash B. Maulana
Insider Mediators (IM) trained by the UNDP-Philippines in consultation series pose for a photo opportunity in Davao City October last year with now Bangsamoro Interim Chief Minister Hadji Murad Ibrahim.