Investments pouring in for Mindanao
The recently signed peace deal in the Philippines’ troubled southern Mindanao region has prompted a number of countries to step up their investment and infrastructure aid plans.
According to Philippine president Benigno Aquino III, not only Asian countries such as Japan, but also the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland were looking into increased investments particularly in Mindanao.
Apart from that, a Mindanao business delegation will take part in a consumer fair among countries under the East Asian Growth area and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle from November 30 to December 2, 2012, in Malaysia. The companies will be promoting tourism development, infrastructure development, agri-business and production, namely palm oil and rubber, halal food, information and communication technology and education exchange to ASEAN investors.
However, Aquino added that there is a need to manage investment offers for Mindanao, which have been pouring in following the signing of the deal, to ensure that projects to be implemented would address the needs of those at the grassroots level.
“There must be a guidance for the investment flows to minimize disruptions that are negative to the society that you’re trying to assist,” the president said.
Given the influx of offers, there is the risk that areas in Mindanao would be subject to a wild scramble from developers, and this could jack up property prices and displace the very people that the agreement is supposed to help, he said.
Background
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines and the only area of the county with a significant Muslim presence. Due to widespread poverty and religious differences, the island has been the site of a separatist movement by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Fighting between MILF and Philippine forces has displaced more than 100,000 people over the past decades. The most troubled region so far was the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
On October 15, 2012, the Government of Philippines and the MILF signed a peace deal known as the Framework of Agreement on Bangsamoro, which will pave the way for the establishment of a new autonomous political entity, the Bangsamoro, to replace the ARMM. This new political entity seeks to bring closure to the decade-long struggle and seeks to re-establish investor confidence in the region.
Mindanao has fertile land and rich resources, from large banana, rubber and palm plantations to energy to minerals and possibly also exploitable oil and gas reserves.
[caption id="attachment_5483" align="alignleft" width="300"] The new proposed pacified territory in Mindanao: Bangsamoro (Click to enlarge)[/caption] The recently signed peace deal in the Philippines' troubled southern Mindanao region has prompted a number of countries to step up their investment and infrastructure aid plans. According to Philippine president Benigno Aquino III, not only Asian countries such as Japan, but also the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland were looking into increased investments particularly in Mindanao. Apart from that, a Mindanao business delegation will take part in a consumer fair among countries under the East Asian Growth area and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle from...
The recently signed peace deal in the Philippines’ troubled southern Mindanao region has prompted a number of countries to step up their investment and infrastructure aid plans.
According to Philippine president Benigno Aquino III, not only Asian countries such as Japan, but also the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland were looking into increased investments particularly in Mindanao.
Apart from that, a Mindanao business delegation will take part in a consumer fair among countries under the East Asian Growth area and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle from November 30 to December 2, 2012, in Malaysia. The companies will be promoting tourism development, infrastructure development, agri-business and production, namely palm oil and rubber, halal food, information and communication technology and education exchange to ASEAN investors.
However, Aquino added that there is a need to manage investment offers for Mindanao, which have been pouring in following the signing of the deal, to ensure that projects to be implemented would address the needs of those at the grassroots level.
“There must be a guidance for the investment flows to minimize disruptions that are negative to the society that you’re trying to assist,” the president said.
Given the influx of offers, there is the risk that areas in Mindanao would be subject to a wild scramble from developers, and this could jack up property prices and displace the very people that the agreement is supposed to help, he said.
Background
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines and the only area of the county with a significant Muslim presence. Due to widespread poverty and religious differences, the island has been the site of a separatist movement by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Fighting between MILF and Philippine forces has displaced more than 100,000 people over the past decades. The most troubled region so far was the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
On October 15, 2012, the Government of Philippines and the MILF signed a peace deal known as the Framework of Agreement on Bangsamoro, which will pave the way for the establishment of a new autonomous political entity, the Bangsamoro, to replace the ARMM. This new political entity seeks to bring closure to the decade-long struggle and seeks to re-establish investor confidence in the region.
Mindanao has fertile land and rich resources, from large banana, rubber and palm plantations to energy to minerals and possibly also exploitable oil and gas reserves.
