EU aid and peace in the South

I was sipping coffee with a Moro friend while worrying about the prospects of peace in Moroland and discussing the disunity of, if not enmity among, leaders of the rebels-turned-autonomists. This disunity has provoked an exasperated President Duterte to express pessimism about peace in the South. (Please don’t give up on us, Mr. President.)

Then came the news that the government had refused aid from the European Union. At first we thought the President, with the nation’s interest foremost in his mind, was correct in rejecting financial grants that turn out more onerous and disadvantageous to the country. He was particularly piqued by the EU’s supposed meddling in the bloody campaign against the drug problem and reported human rights violations.

As if on cue, memories of Moro rebels as beneficiaries of cattle distribution and water stations, livelihood assistance and alternative learning projects, and the Study Grant Assistance Program flashed in my mind. I also recalled the past administration’s Sajahatra Bangsamoro development project. All these projects and many more are funded by the World-Bank-managed Mindanao Trust Fund, a multidonor grant facility funded largely by the EU. It struck my friend and me that we Moros will be the most adversely affected by the rejection of EU aid. And to a large extent, it will imperil the peace process.

EU countries have been benevolent in helping find solutions to the Moro problem. Alleviating social and political conditions is the constant factor in addressing the problem, poverty being the real and principal cause of the discord and discontent that have led to the Moro rebellion. The EU has willingly partnered with the Philippine government in searching for solutions, and getting its displeasure is the last thing we stakeholders want. Such a move will be a hump in the arduous and perilous road to peace. Some suggest that we turn for help from our newfound friend, China. But because of the Europeans’ long association with peace endeavors, Moros have developed trust in them. China has still to earn it.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process led by Secretary Jesus Dureza is disturbingly silent on the controversy. Its mandate is supposed to be peace-building. What gives?

We take comfort from the statement of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia that the rejection of aid was not a government policy but more of a reaction to the EU’s concern about the war on drugs and human rights violations—an issue that has gotten Mr. Duterte’s goat. Pernia has expressed optimism that the President would reconsider the rejection.

The Moro problem is not all about fratricide — Filipino soldiers killing brother soldiers. It is not all about a war of attrition. And it is not a contest of who has killed the biggest number. As sociologists and anthropologists will tell you, it is more of a war against poverty, illiteracy and other social ills that have mired Moros in a long struggle. And this war can be won, not by guns and bullets, but by food and security. The government is clearly undermanned and handicapped by budgetary constraints and other problems of governance. For it to win the war, partnering with foreign state-donors is a must. This is backed by historical and empirical studies conducted in other Third World countries in similar circumstances.

We cling to Pernia’s optimism, hoping against hope that the President would reconsider the rejection of EU aid in the interest of peace in Moroland.

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Macabangkit B. Lanto ([email protected]), UP Law 1967, was a Fulbright Fellow to New York University for his postgraduate studies. He has served in the government in various capacities.