With peace in Mindanao,
SAVE MORE THAN P10-B -- ANGARA

The P10 billion-a-year loss from the violence in Mindanao has to have a lasting solution from the potent combination of peace negotiations and the immediate execution of economic and social amelioration projects in strife-ton areas, Team Unity senatorial candidate Edgardo J. Angara today said.

Angara said that some of the bold initiatives he undertook while he was agriculture secretary had turned villages in and around Camp Abubakar into productive agricultural and fishery enclaves.

Angara said that the specific program for the former MNLF villages was called Arms to Farms and this project has been getting support up to now from the national government, the US Agency for International Development through its Office of Transition Initiatives and the local government units covered by the program.

Under the program, said Angara, the villages and 9,000 families in and around Camp Abubakar were initially given farm machineries, post-harvest facilities, financial support, capability-building training and related assistance.

The ex-MNLF combatant started to learn the basics of modern agri and fishery production plus marketing and other cognates. They are now viable sites for agri-production, said Angara.

Angara said that the program for the ex-MNLF combatants continues to get support from the Arroyo administration. It is a continuing concern, he added.

Angara said that Mindanao alone, under a condition of peace and harmony, can supply the entire food requirements of the country.

Mindanao, he said, is a region with awesome endowments. It is typhoon-free and is declared free from the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease.

These two endowments alone are worth billions of pesos in commercial value, said Angara.

Angara said that with its FMD-free status, Mindanao can be a major producer of hog and livestock and a major export base for such commodities.

If there is any ideal place for putting up the Zones of Agricultural Productivity, this is Mindanao, he said.

The off-and-on violence in Mindanao, according to Angara, wastes a minimum of P10 billion yearly in government resources.

Peace is the equivalent of economic dividends, violence means immense drain on the treasury, he said.