ILIGAN CITY---President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bared here today the government's formula to attain peace in Mindanao to be known as the Two Ps -- Peace Talks for all, and Projects for Peace.
''The start of 2009 should mark the renewal of sustained, intense and vigorous efforts to ensure the fulfillment of the government's Mindanao Agenda, an agenda of two main planks and anchored on two Ps -- Peace talks for all and Projects for Peace,'' the President said in her opening statement at the first full Cabinet meeting for the new year held at the Macaraeg-Macapagal ancestral home here.
The President stressed that the first plank, a long-lasting peace, must be put in place by ''stilling the guns of war, drawing the biblical theme of turning swords into plows.''
She added that efforts to attain the elusive peace for Mindanao must be an ''all-inclusive effort'' where all stakeholders must have one mindset -- a passion for peace. The stakeholders include local government units, non-government organizations, religious groups, separatists and federalists.
The second plank, projects for peace, involves increased government investments in Mindanao and fast-tracking on-going development projects in the area.
The development projects will fully exploit Mindanao's ''awesome asset'' of being typhoon-free, and will include the creation of agri-business processing zones.
The President said the government will also undertake a crash program to address the problem of illiteracy and poverty in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and give priority to the Mindanao provinces included in the list of the 10 poorest in the country.
''Our objective is to realize the century-old quest for lasting peace. From the wreckage of war, we will fashion implements for progress and lasting peace,'' the President said.
Immediately after Christmas, the President ordered all concerned agencies to prepare for the resumption of the stalled peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and to put an end to all hostilities in Mindanao.
The GRP-MILF informal talks may resume this month with consultations giving priority to the major stakeholders of peace in Mindanao which include the communities, according to Agrarian Secretary Nassar Pangandaman in an interview before the Cabinet meeting.
The peace talks suffered a snag after renegade MILF commanders Bravo, Umbra Kato and Pagalian attacked civilian communities in Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato and Sarangani, killing about a hundred people and displacing thousands in protest against the non-signing of the MoA-AD.
Source: Office of the President
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