Mindanao Summit adopts workshop
outputs
By PHIL PA-ALAN, Publisher-Editor, The Mindanao
Gazette
(A
reprint from The Mindanao Gazette in August 2014 issue for purposes of
documentation and reference)
ILIGAN CITY - The Mindanao
Empowerment Summit held in Davao City from June 26 to 27, 2014 has adopted the
Covenant for the Mindanao Empowerment and a Resolution endorsing the
Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), including the reform and
development proposals for Mindanao.
Hosted by Davao City Mayor
Rodrigo Duterte, the Summit organized ten (10) workshops to tackle issues and
concerns affecting Mindanao to ascertain the real needs and problems of the
people of Mindanao and to evoke from them what they believed as the most
realistic solutions thereon. The issues
and concerns tackled and intensely
deliberated upon in the ten (10)
workshops include: (1) Energy Sufficiency; (2) Peace and Order; (3) Food
Security and Agro-Industrial Economy; (4) Infrastructure; (5) Reconstruction
and Rehabilitation; (6) Social Services and Development; (7) Fiscal Autonomy
for the LGUs; (8) Climate Change; (9) Transportation and Communications; (10) Political Reform; (11) Electoral Reform; and (12) Representation in the National
Government.
On Energy Sufficiency, the
workshop members stressed that of the three major Islands of the Philippines,
Mindanao has, on several occasions, been on the verge of economic cliff, not
only because of the insurgency that it has since the 1970s, but because of
inadequacy of electric power for the last decades or so. They added that almost all the social and
economic activities in Mindanao have been adversely affected by electric
fluctuation and irregular or intermittent supply of energy brought about by
benign-neglect or intentional deprivation by those in-charge.
Without enumerating the
specific issues and concerns affecting power generation, transmission and
distribution, the workshop members are of the opinion that the energy
department should consider any or all or a combination of the following
measures:
1. Immediate repair,
rehabilitation and operation of the government existing power generation plants
and facilities in Mindanao so they can be put in full utilization, not to
waste;
2. Immediate construction of
additional hydro plants in combination with windmills, solar energy, and other
renewable sources of energy where they are appropriate. To this end, each local government unit
should take the necessary steps to prevent power interruptions/shortfalls;
3. Immediately ban the
installation/construction of environmentally-unfriendly and health hazard power
generators, including those whose costs to the consumers are prohibitive. The affordability and sustainability factors
should also be considered.
4. Initiate and support the
regionalization of power generation, transmission and distribution through the
consortium of local government units within each region;
5. Creation of the Mindanao
Power Corporation to manage and operate government power generation plants/facilities. For this purpose, revisit and amend the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA LAW) to bring the government back to
the industry as a major power generator, supplier and distributor;
6. Creation of a joint
Executive-Legislative Oversight Committee;
7. Provide 20% subsidy on
the electric consumption of the poor whose income is below the poverty line.
On Peace and Order, the
workshop members said that we witnessed the fact that the signing of the 1996
GRP-MNLF Peace Accord did not bring peace in Mindanao due to the lapses in the
implementation of the agreement that both parties should willingly address in
the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), after all, the MILF and MNLF are comrades in
arms. They added that however, even with
the harmonization of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the 1996 GRP-MNLF peace accord, the problem on peace and order would
still be around as crimes against persons, properties and liberties are
committed in broad daylight and almost every minute.
To
gradually mitigate the incidence of criminalities which is rising in Mindanao,
the workshop members recommend to the national government to consider any or
all of the following measures:
1.
Provide police visibility in the 42,027 barangays all over the country. This
can be done by converting the barangay tanod into barangay policemen clothing
them with authority to pursue and arrest culprits. the Philippine National Police (PNP) shall
conduct the training for the barangay policemen who are appointed by the
barangay council with disciplinary power to suspend erring barangay policemen
by majority vote of its members, and to dismiss an erring barangay policemen by
3/4 vote of its members;
2.
Make the local chief executives, including the barangay chairmen responsible
for the maintenance of peace and order in their respective locality/barangay. Failure
to do so should be considered a ground for the suspension of the local chief
executives concerned;
3.
Strengthen the regional and local peace and order councils by giving them
powers to recommend the transfer, suspension, or dismissal from the service of
an erring police officer. Expand the composition of the council by including
more members from the private sector;
4.
Strengthen the barangay justice system by empowering the Lupong Tagapamayapa to
cite for contempt parties who do not submit to mediation and arbitration;
5.
Creation of the Mindanao peace commission with the following powers, duties and
functions:
5.1. supervise the
regional and local peace and order councils in the performance of their duties
and functions so that their members would not be remiss in the performance of
their respective duties and functions;
5.2. Promote peaceful
co-existence so that the Muslims, Christians and Lumads, alike, can peacefully
and harmoniously co-exist and accept each other as Filipinos having the same
roots and origin. In a multi-sectoral and diverse society, social , economic
and political integration is still the key to peaceful co-existence and
solidarity;
5.3 dismantle as soon as possible
private armies and organized crimes so that every man and woman in the Philippines
would feel safe and secure;
5.4. Initiate the collection of
loose firearms. this will pave the way
for the rule of law to prevail;
5.5. Integrate into the social
and economic life of our society the leaders and members of the private armies
and organized crimes to promote national solidarity in its truest meaning.
The
workshop members also stressed that while it is true that the economic
development effort can simultaneously proceed hand-in-hand with the peace and
order effort, it must be conceded that peace is the key to economic development
as in tourism and investment, investors
come to places where they are safe and secure.
On
food security and agro-industrial economy, the workshop members are of the
belief that the survival of a nation, such as ours, largely depends on our
capacity to produce the food that we need without having to depend from other
countries. Also, a nation does not exist
by food alone, it goes on with the
industrial products, non-food products, hence, the need for the adoption of an
agro-industrial and export-oriented economy.
Other
than the essential products that we need in our homes, workplaces and surroundings,
we need to intensify the production of steel, cement, electronics, and venture
into manufacturing of vehicles, ship building and military equipment to be
truly independent, self-sustaining and self-reliant.
Specifically,
to attain food security and sufficiency, including the industrialization of Mindanao,
the national government should consider the following measures:.
1. Formulation of a land use
policy in Mindanao to delineate land for food production, fruit bearing trees,
high value/root crops, coconut plantation, palm oil plantation, vegetables and
similar farm products and the lands for industrialization;
2. Promote with the support of
the national government, regional and local food production with each local
government unit at the core of the initiative in partnership with the private
sector. This will stimulate regional and local food security and sufficiency;
3. Strengthen the farmer's
organizations with technical and local assistance from the national and local
governments. This is the stimulus for agricultural growth and effective
mechanism for poverty mitigation;
4. Organize pioneering Mindanao
industrialist and the government should provide them technical and financial
assistance, including tax holidays and incentives from both the national and
local government;
5. Sustain the technical and
financial assistance being extended by the national government to the fisher folks
in the marine and aquatic/fishing industry to elevate their social and economic
status;
6. Declaration of the strategic
regions/areas in Mindanao as industrial zone, agricultural zone,
aquamarine/fishing zone, summer and cultural center, financial center,
convention center and tourist destination.
On
infrastructure, the workshop members claim that the presence of the government
is manifested by the infrastructure that it has put in place, it is not what it
has at the drawing table. Never can anyone or any local government aspire for
social and economic development without connectivity to its neighbors. The
first connectivity which links the local governments and regions with each other
is a road network such as national , provincial, municipal, city roads
including the barangay roads which should all be compliant with the
international standard.
And so the following
proposals:
1. Widening of existing
national roads in Mindanao, construction of national roads in the interior parts
of Mindanao, concreting of provincial roads as the major access and farm to
market roads. This will provide efficient and effective overland connectivity
to the cities, provinces and regions in Mindanao;
2. Construction of municipal
halls in all the municipalities in Mindanao where there is none.; This is very
important because government is certainly non-existent when its physical
presence is not in sight.
3. Construction of
additional schoolable school buildings in areas where it is needed and the
repair and renovation of existing school buildings with comfort rooms. the need
is so acute and urgent in Mindanao if education is considered as one of the
solutions to insurgency and poverty reduction;
4. Construction of tourism
infrastructure and facilities in areas declared as tourist destination.
On reconstruction and
rehabilitation, the workshop members said that the Philippines has now become a
prone-disaster country, a typhoon path in Asia, as direct result of climate
change the disaster is not only annual but could take place at any time without
warning.
As natural and man-made
disasters would regularly hit the country, it is proposed very strongly that
the Department of National Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (DNRR) be created
as soon as possible whose mandate shall be to reconstruct the areas devastated
by natural and man-made disasters and to rehabilitate socially and economically
the people affected by such calamities.
The loss of human lives and
the destruction of properties inflicted upon our people by Typhoons Peping, Ondoy,
Sendong, Pablo, and Yolanda as well as the armed siege in Zamboanga city, prompted
the recommendation for the creation of the Department of National
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation.
Other workshop groups also
made recommendations concerning the issues and concerns assigned to them and
also subsequently adopted by the Summit.
It can be recalled that a
two-day Mindanao Empowerment Summit was convened by Summit convenors headed by
Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on June 26 and 27, 2014 at Grand Men Seng
Hotel in Davao City to consolidate all existing development plans for Mindanao
and integrate them into a single comprehensive development plan with the new
challenges in the social, economic, and political life of the our people with
the consolidated plan to be known as the “Mindanao Development Agenda for
1630”.
Specifically, the Mindanao
Empowerment Summit hosted by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, aimed to
unite the people of Mindanao for their social, economic, and political empowerment;
formulate strategies which will effectively address the issues and concerns
affecting Mindanao; and ensure equitable representation of the people of
Mindanao in the national government. The
Summit rational cited that since the Commonwealth time up to this day, Mindanao
has not been accorded with equitable representation in the government and has
been continuously denied proportionate allocation of government resources in
terms of projects and programs, despite the fact that Mindanao accounts for the
second largest population in the country, the second largest island of the
Philippine Archipelago, and produces a little over forty percent (40%), in real
terms, of our national food requirements.
It added that to ensure the development of Mindanao, and to fast track
the same, and to restore normalcy and maintain peace and order in Mindanao, it
is high time that the people of Mindanao should take it upon themselves to lay down
their development plan and pursue the same for their better future and the next
generation to come. It concluded that
the formulation of the social, economic and political empowerment effort of
Mindanao should start from tackling the
present- day issues and concerns affecting its people, as it claimed that the
summit could stir up the battle cry for a genuine empowerment of Mindanao. The issues and concerns tackled in the Summit
for Mindanao included energy self-sufficiency, peace and order, infrastructure
and rehabilitation, food security and agro-industrial economy, social services
and development, transportation and communications, LGUs fiscal autonomy,
climate change, political and electoral reform, and representations in the
national government.
The Summit was attended by
multi-sectoral leaders of Mindanao with cabinet secretaries as resource speakers,
which include Secretary Luwalhati R. Antonino of the Mindanao Development
Authority (MDA), who delivered the keynote speech of President Benigno Simeon
“Noynoy” Aquino III, who at the time of the Summit was in Japan; DPWH Secretary
Rogelio I. Singson; Undersecretary Austere
Panadero, representing DILG Secretary
Mar Roxas; Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos, representing DOE Secretary Carlos
Jericho L. Petilla; and Former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr.. Atty. Sha
Elijah Dumama-Alba, representing the MILF; and Atty. Mohammad Al-Amin Julkipli,
representing the GRP Negotiation Panel were also present. Present from the House of Representatives
included Representatives Bai Sandra A. Sema; Ma. Lourdes Acosta-Alba; Rogelio
Neil P. Roque; and Maximo Rodriguez.
President Aquino in his
keynote address which was delivered by Secretary Luwalhati Antonino reassured
the people of Mindanao of their share of the wealth of our country, while DPWH Secretary
Rogelio L. Singson underscored the various infrastructure projects in Mindanao
both completed and on-going. On the part
of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Undersecretary
Austere A. Panadero assured the people of Mindanao that in due time they will
have enduring and lasting peace with the implementation of the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the dismantling of private armies and
organized crimes in Mindanao that the department sees soon to happen. The Department of Energy speaking through
Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos assured the delegates that by 2016 there will
be no power interruption in Mindanao.
Senator Koko Pimentel spoke on his bill seeking to increase the share of
the local government units (LGUs) in the national taxes, fees and charges from
forty percent (40%) to fifty percent (50%) to guarantee that the LGUs would
have fiscal autonomy which will make them more responsive to the needs and
problems of the their constituents.
Former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr. and City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte
both spoke on the Federal System of Government and proposed for a charger
change via Constitutional Convention after the 2016 presidential elections so
that the various regions of the country as federal states can be self-reliant
and competitive. Both leaders also proposed that the delegates to the convention
should be elected simultaneously in the 2016 presidential elections. Director
Mae Est6er T. Guiamadel, who represented NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan,
presented before the Summit the Mindanao Strategic Development Framework in
conjunction with the Mindanao 2020 of the Mindanao Development Authority (MDA)
which the office also presented. Also in
attendance were provincial governors led by Governor Steve C. Solo, vice
governors led by Vice Governor Arturo Carlos A. Egay, provincial board members
led by Board Member Maybell T. Valdevieso, city mayors led by City Mayor
Rodrigo R. Duterte and municipal mayors led by Mayor Omaradji C. Pizarrro, Jr..
From the sectoral groups were Dr. Gerlita S. Ruiz of the University of
Mindanao, Pastor Leonardo S. Pumanhog of the assemblies of God, Andy Manlapus
of the Davao Housing Cooperative, Rene Arias of the Mindanao Transport
Services; Conrado R. Sillada of the Urban Poor of Davao City and many others
from the private sector. Adopted in the
Summit were the Covenant for the Mindanao Empowerment and a Resolution
endorsing the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), including the
reform and development proposals that the summit adopted for Mindanao.
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