Scottish pipers wow Filipino children in Manila school

The Scottish pipers entertain Filipino students in Manila.

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 26, 2008) - A group of Scottish pipers entertained Filipino children at a school in Manila’s Tondo district run by the Philippine Christian Foundation (PCF).

The pipers, who were visiting from Hong Kong, were in Manila recently for the annual St. Andrew's Ball to celebrate Scotland's patron saint.

Peter Beckingham, the British Ambassador to the Philippines, is the Honorary Patron of the Manila Saint Andrew's Society, and his wife, Jill Beckingham, the Patron of the PCF School in Tondo.

The Manila St. Andrew's Society is generously supported by a number of sponsors, including Shell, AstraZeneca, G4S, British Gas, Jardines, Renaissance Hotel, Forth & Tay, and Lane Moving.

Hamish Moore, the Society's chieftain, said, “Like all our key sponsors, we are committed to supporting worthy causes in the local community and the trip to Tondo was part of that effort. It was certainly a novel and enjoyable experience for all the children." (Oya Arriola)

British peace process expert arrives in Manila

MANILA, Philippines — When it comes to peace negotiations, difficulties and disappointments are givens, but patience and resilience beget the prize all stakeholders long for: a peaceful prosperous life for ordinary people and their families.

This was the message that Robert Hannigan, described as a Security Adviser of the British Prime Minister and Head of Security, Intelligence and Resilience of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, told foreign affairs reporters after getting out of a marathon meeting with Philippine government officials at a hotel in Makati City.

The Philippine News Agency said Hannigan was accompanied by British Ambassador to Manila Peter Beckingham.

”I think the greatest message that we can give is that there can be a solution; it’s difficult, it takes time and there are great disappointments along the way but the prize is worth going for,” said Hannigan, who arrived on Monday on a two-day mission.

The South is where the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been waging war against government troops, claiming the island to be its ancestral domain. In the process, their battleground is bloodied with the lives of innocent, mostly Christian civilians — no less than 300 at least since they renewed their attacks in August after a failed attempt to gain control of a so-called Bangsamoro homeland.

Hannigan met Monday morning with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (PAPP) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. before heading to Mindanao.

”I did not come here to offer solutions or come here to negotiate, but hope to share some of the lessons learned” from his experience in the peace process on the issue of Northern Ireland,” he told reporters as he rushed out of the closed-door meeting.

”I’ve come to share some of the experiences in the northern Ireland peace process which concluded in the last couple of years and went on for some 30, 40 years. I don’t come here for solutions or come here to negotiate but hope to share some of the lessons we’ve learned and I had a very useful meeting this morning with the members of the government.”

Hannigan also told reporters that with the troika of Philippine officials, “we talked about some of the principles on the peace process, the importance of keeping the goal and the prize at the end of this which is a peaceful prosperous life for ordinary people and their families.”

”I don’t want to get involved in the details of the peace process here (the Southern Philippine issue), what I’ve learned is not to interfere in a situation that may be very different.”

In previous interviews with Beckingham, foreign affairs reporters were repeatedly told that the British government is “fully aware” that the Northern Ireland issue may be far different from that of Mindanao.

”Of course, there are many differences between the peace discussions in Northern Ireland and Mindanao, but if the parties in Mindanao can gain insight from Robert Hannigan's work, then his visit will be valuable," Beckingham also said in a separate statement.

Northern Ireland was a decades-old conflict between the dominant Protestants against the minority Catholics. Philippine authorities, on the other hand, decline to publicly look at the conflict in Christian-dominated Mindanao — which is claimed by Muslims as their ancestral land by reasons of history and earlier occupation — as a religious issue. But, at the same time, the government has been promoting interfaith dialogues and pursued the paradigm all the way to the United Nations.

Hannigan is due to meet later today with representatives of the MILF hierarchy in Davao City.

On Wednesday morning, Hannigan is due to meet with stakeholders on the Mindanao peace process. He would not name them, but aside from local officials and non-governmental organizations, the group would include British aid support workers based in Davao. UK volunteers in Iligan City fled the area when the clashes broke out in August.

”I’m looking forward to meeting people, the MILF tonight and the stakeholders tomorrow to learn more about the situation on the ground in Mindanao and I’ve come to listen and to share our experiences and not tell people what the solution is,” he said.

Britain offered to share its “intimate experience of negotiating peace in Northern Ireland” during an exploratory meeting in Great Britain between President Gloria Arroyo and then Prime Minister Tony Blair in December 2007.

Since August, Arroyo has promoted the resolution of the stalemated peace talks with the MILF through a United Nations-accepted process known as DDR (disarming or decommissioning, demobilization and reintegration or rehabilitation).

Esperon had earlier said that "Dr. Hannigan's visit is very timely as the Philippine Government is shifting to a new paradigm in engaging various armed groups."

"Hannigan's visit follows discussions between UK Foreign Office Minister Meg Munn and (Philippine Foreign) Secretaries Romulo and (then PAPP Jesus) Dureza in Manila in May, when they agreed it would be useful for a senior official involved in the Northern Ireland peace process to visit the Philippines.” (Gloria Jane Baylon)

Philippine Peace Process: Muslim Rebels Welcome British Mediation

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 04, 2008) – The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, praised Britain for its offer to send experts to help in peace negotiations in the strife-torn region of Mindanao.

The MILF is currently negotiating peace with Manila, but talks had been stalled since last year after over demands for territories in Mindanao, the country’s second largest island and home to more than four million Muslims and over 17 million mostly Christians.

It said the Philippine peace panel headed by Rodolfo Garcia agreed on the scope of the Muslim ancestral domain, but later reneged on the accord that will constitute a separate homeland for Muslims and at least 18 indigenous tribes in Mindanao.

The ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement and with the talks stalled; the hope of ending more than three decades of bloody hostilities remains dim.

Many rebel commanders are getting frustrated and restless over the failure of the seven-year old peace talks with the Arroyo government.

British ambassador Peter Beckingham said three or four experts who were involved in peace talks in Northern Ireland are arriving soon in the Philippines to help re-start the stalled peace talks.

The British also launched a two-year, P14 million leadership training program in the Philippines to develop Islamic leaders who will actively work in reforming education and governance, among others, in a bid to help counter radicalism.

“This is good news. It is a positive development and we hope the British experts will arrive very soon so we can meet with them and discuss the peace process in Mindanao. We welcome the British support to the peace process and we appreciate it very much,” Eid Kabalu, a spokesman of the MILF, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Malaysia, which is brokering the peace talks, said it would pull out its cease-fire observers deployed in Mindanao if there is no progress in the negotiations.

Kabalu said the pull out of the Malaysia-led International Monitoring team will put the cease-fire agreement and the peace talks at risk because Filipino troops in the past had always encroached in so-called MILF territories sparking sporadic clashes that often lead to bigger clashes in central Mindanao.

Since the IMT arrived, fighting between security and rebel forces drastically decreased from 698 armed clashes in 2004 to just 7 incidents last year.

The IMT is composed of at least 41 officers from the Malaysian Defense Forces, the Royal Malaysia Police, and the Prime Minister's Department and is also supported by 10 military officers from Brunei Darussalam and 5 from Libya. Canada and Japan have also members on the team.

The MILF has repeatedly urged Manila to resume the stalled talks, but either it had been ignored or was overtaken by corruption scandals in the government and anti-Arroyo protests in Manila.

Murad Ebrahim, the MILF chieftain, also appealed to rebel forces and supporters for patience over the failure of peace talks with Manila.

"The road to freedom is always full of twist and turn and to overcome, we must work, persist, and sacrifice," Ebrahim said.

It was the second time the MILF appealed to Muslims and rebels for patience over the slow progress of the peace talks. Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator, also appealed to Muslims to remain calm and patient over the failure of the talks.

Iqbal said that the ugly turn of event in the peace process is taxing the patience of the MILF and the Muslims, who may be compelled to resort to other means of resolving the Mindanao conflict when they are pushed to the wall and become hopeless in the peace process.

President Gloria Arroyo has opened up peace talks with the MILF in 2001, but since then no substantial agreements have been signed between the two sides, expect for the cease-fire accord.

The MILF ancestral domain covers the whole of Muslim autonomous region and other areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes.

And even Palawan Island in central Philippines and the Sulu Archipelago.The Philippine military previously demanded MILF rebels to lay down their weapons before peace talks could resume. (Mindanao Examiner)

US, Britain Pour Development Aid In Southern RP

Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan with US and British Ambassadors Kristie Kenney and Peter Beckingham on Monday Sept. 24, 2007 in Patikul town in Sulu province in southern RP. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 24 Sept) – US and British officials on Monday unveiled a huge package of development projects in Sulu province in an effort to help Manila bring peace and progress in the southern region.

Ambassadors Kristie Kenney, of the United States, and Peter Beckingham, of the British Embassy, arrived WITH Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon in Jolo town where Gov. Sakur Tan led local officials in welcoming the delegation.

Tan said the US and British projects will help a lot of people in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Among the projects are the rehabilitation of the Jolo airport by the US worth $3 million and $700,000 potable water system funded by the British government under the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) program.

"The $3 million will be used to rebuilt and renovate the Jolo airport so people here can their fabulous products out to market in Manila and the rest of the world," Kenney told reporters.

It was in addition to the $190 million development and economic growth agreement the US recently signed to help fund other projects in Mindanao. "The $190 million will be spreading it evenly throughout various parts of Mindanao. The airport in Jolo and the water system, which costs $700,000, are separate projects," she said.

The potable water system, on the other hand, will benefit hundreds of people in four villages - Siolakan, Bakud, Latung, and SibakLatud – in Sulu's Siasi town, where AMORE also set up the communities' first access to electricity using solar power technology in 2004.

The project consist of an intake structure, four impounding reservoirs confined with 7,335 meters pipeline and with 21 tap stands, said Tetchie Capellan, AMORE's chief of party.

"I am confident that the completion of the potable water system project, the health, sanitation, and economic living conditions of the 200 marginalized households spread across the four villages will be addressed," Capellan said.

The AMORE is an alliance of the United States Agency for International Development, the Philippines' Department of Energy, Mirant Philippines Foundation Inc., the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Winrock International.

Bekingham described the province as vibrant and tremendous. "Everybody is very friendly and I am delighted to be here and see the projects that we are doing here," he said.

He said Britain is committed to increasing expenditure on water related projects, ensuring universal access to safe water and sanitation. The British government, he said, has already supported projects in developing countries, like in the Philippines, a community-based program integrating water, sanitation and hygiene education.

Kenney and Beckingham also handed over ten units of computers to the Sulu National High School. The British government provided reference materials while the USAID helped to install the new computers and train teachers on their use for classroom instruction.

They also visited the Jolo Market Road which had been upgraded recently from an earthen causeway to a concrete-paved boulevard by USAID. Tan said the improved road now provides a more efficient means of moving products and people from Jolo port to the market area.

The road has already become an evening attraction for locals, many of whom now regularly take walks to watch the sunset and panoramic view of the Sulu Sea.

Tan said the ambassadors also handed over aquaculture production materials to former Muslim rebels now engaged in lobster and abalone farming. "Peace and development in the province of Sulu has always been the ultimate goal of my administration and the people of this historical archipelago."

"Seeing it flourish again into agricultural and marine-based economic potentate in the region amidst challenges is the glory we all relentlessly working for early realization," he told Kenney and Beckingham.

Esperon said the peace and order condition in Sulu has improved a lot the past months and is giving confidence to foreign countries to take a second look into the province's rich natural resources. "Sulu is very peaceful and we have the US and British ambassadors here pouring a lot of development projects. It is a very good sign that progress," he said. (Mindanao Examiner)