(From left to right) European Union Ambassador Luc Véron and Member of Parliament Alih O.Salik during their visit at Camp Abubakar in Barira, Maguindanao on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021.
COTABATO CITY—Following the successful launching of the Support to Bangsamoro Transition (SUBATRA) Programme, European Union Ambassador Luc Véron visited Camp Abubakar in Barira, Maguindanao on Tuesday, Nov. 16, and pledged the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) community their continued support to peace and recovery in the Bangsamoro region.
“EU will continue to support peace and recovery in BARMM to the best of ability and means […] we are currently working on three new actions to directly benefit the camp transformation through partnerships with UNDP, CHD, and IDEALS and their partners,” Véron said in his keynote message.
The visit was part of witnessing the Phase 3 decommissioning process for the 14,000 Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) combatants.
The EU will support the peace process including support for the political track, normalization, and confidence building.
“Leaving no one behind”
According to Véron, peace and development are “inextricably intertwined”, that is why a comprehensive approach is being sought to combine their technical and financial cooperation to support the most vulnerable BARMM communities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals’ commitment of “leaving no one behind”.
Peace and economic development
Véron also mentioned their support for economic development that focuses on capacity building for farmers’ organisations and cooperatives, delivering socio-economic rural services and infrastructures.
For peace, aside from SUBATRA Programme, EU seeks to help in improving the democratic governance environment and capacity building through their Peace and Development in the BARMM (PD BARMM) Programme.
“We intend to support the work of OPAPP, BTA and partners on the ground in their efforts to ensure that decommissioning can be expedited and camps can be transformed into peaceful and productive communities,” Véron said.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament Alih O. Salik said, “for almost 50 years, the Bangsamoro has been torn from war and conflict […] hope it will help them start and rebuild their economic situation, education, health, and other development interventions.”
The EU delegates will also be traveling to Lanao del Sur to discuss the Marawi reconstruction on Nov. 17-18. (Bangsamoro Information Office)
