Ramos okays $1.06b scheme for Moslem-populated areas

Ramos okays $1.06b scheme for Moslem-populated areas

MANILA (AFP): Philippine President Fidel Ramos yesterday said the government had approved a 30.9-billion-peso (US$1.06 billion) program to speed up development in Moslem-populated regions in the south.

The program includes investment in infrastructure, social services, agriculture and education including the construction of 37 major roads, two bridges and eight ports.

Funding for the program will come from both state funds and official development assistance, a government statement said.

The program was approved in preparation for a meeting of prospective donors to a development fund for 14 Moslem-populated provinces that are grouped in the Southern Philippine Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD), to open on August 8 in the southern city of General Santos.

The Philippines' traditional aid sources as well as Middle East financial institutions are taking part in the meeting, which will be presided over by the World Bank and co-sponsored by the UN Development Program.

The government hopes to get about 400 million dollars in aid pledges at the meeting, organizers said.

The SPCPD was created last year as part of a peace agreement between the government and the main Moslem insurgent group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)

The southern Philippines, which the country's Moslem minority consider their ancestral homeland, has been wracked by decades of fighting between Moslem separatists and government forces.

The government has been seeking to pool funds from various sources to finance development of the war-ravaged area.

However peace negotiations are still going on with an MNLF breakaway group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)