‘WAR IS MORE COSTLY
THAN BUILDING PEACE’
Assalamu Alaikum!
Thank you for coming to this two-day Consultation Workshop to prepare the Master Plan for Agriculture and Fisheries in the Bangsamoro Region.
I know it was a difficult trip for many of you, especially those who came from distant islands in Tawi-tawi, Sulu and Basilan.
You will not regret that you came in spite of the hardships.
Ten years from now, we can all look back to these two days we spent together as the turning point in in our lives and in the destiny of the people in this island we all call home.
You are part of history making because this is the first time farmers, fisherfolk, government planners and representatives of people’s organisations gathered in one room to chart the future of your children and their children.
Listening to the presentations of Tawitawi, Sulu, Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao and looking at how much work needs to be done and how much money is needed to change the lives of the people in the region over the next 10 years, I know that many of you are awed.
I made a rough mental computation based on your presentation of the work and the things which need to be done for 10 years, I believe government needs to invest about one trillion pesos.
Even our budget planners would probably back off and say: “Whoah! Wait a minute! That’s a lot of money to be spent for one region of five provinces. That’s too much!”
To those who would look at what you have presented as an excessive financial requirement for the development of the Bangsamoro Region, I will ask them this question:
How long has the conflict in this region dragged?
How many lives had been lost?
How much economic opportunities have flown away because of the conflict?
Most of all, how much has government spent for bullets, bombs and other war materiel in the effort to end this conflict through force?
Believe me, if we compare the numbers, we will all realise that waging a war is more expensive than building peace.
I am asking our planning team to please work on the presentations of our stakeholders over the weekend because by Wednesday next week, I would like to present a copy of the output to President Rody Duterte.
The President is in a hurry to deliver just as our people are eagerly awaiting the blessings of the peace agreement which was forged recently.
Our people have waited for so long. If we do not submit our output now to catch up with this year’s budgeting for 2020, we will have to wait for another two years before we could deliver what you indicated in your outputs as things urgently needed by our people.
I will submit the output to the President and respectfully ask him to certify this as urgent requirements to give flesh to the promised peace and development to the region.
On our part, we could start working on the deliverables.
I am asking the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) of the Department of Agriculture to allocate P25-M to fund the first 50 community stores called Padian na Bangsamoro, something similar to the Kadiwa Stores of old.
These community stores to be managed by groups of widows of former combatants, wives or daughters, will make available in Bangsamoro communities basic food items at affordable prices – rice, sugar, salt, cooking oil and other household items.
Soon, these could be transformed into outlets for other agricultural inputs like fertilisers, seeds and tools.
I am asking the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to start establishing the two prototypes of the Floating Solar Power Generation Farms in Tawitawi and Siulu.
When I return to Manila next week, I will sit down with our planners to work on a Capability and Leadership Training Program for our local elective officials in the region.
Our political leaders must be prepared for the difficult task ahead. Their governance mindset must change.
I will propose to advanced Muslim countries a program which would expose our local leaders to modern agriculture and fisheries and off-hand, I have Turkey in mind.
There must not only be development reforms but also political reforms in the region.
“Hindi na puede yong nakaugalian natin na pagpapatakbo ng gobyerno na kung sino ang Mayor sa bayan, bahay nya ang nagiging munisipyo.”
The practice of moving government centres to places where the winning political leaders come from must end. If not, we might as well build municipal halls on wheels.
I will reach out to foreign funders and nations who would be willing to support our efforts to develop the Bangsamoro Region.
Slowly but surely, you will effect change in the region.
Let me thank Minister Mohammad Yacob for his support in arranging this workshop which also gave me an opportunity to show you who I really am.
I have been accused of being Ant-Moro because of my position agains the MOA-AD when I was still a leader of North Cotabato. I can’t blame people who do not really know me.
There will be no effort on my part to explain or justify anything. I will only tell my detractors that “People should be judged not by their words but by their deeds.”
When we leave this room today, I would like you to remember this: there is so much to do with so little time.
Our people can no longer wait because they have waited for a lifetime.
May God keep you all safe on your way home.
Sukran! Wassalam!
