PROJECTS THAT ARE quick to launch and have high impact are central in a Bangsamoro blueprint that aims to rehabilitate areas that have been stricken by years of conflict and government neglect.

“The focus is on quick gestation and high impact projects for the short term,” said Saffrullah M. Dipatuan, chairman of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA).

Health, education and other basic services, farm-to-market roads, support for farmers and fisherfolk and other projects that promote livelihood are examples. “These will stimulate the economy,” Mr. Dipatuan said.

He said the challenge was acknowledged by the BDA in crafting the Bangsamoro Development Plan, which will guide development efforts for the short and medium term and hopefully meet residents’s expectations of change once the Bangsamoro replaces the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) — described as a “failed experiment” by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III.

“The transition period is short,” Mr. Dipatuan pointed out. “That alerted us … that we might not address the expectations on the ground.”

The Bangsamoro Development Plan is divided into two phases. The first will cover June 2014 to May 2016 and will come with the submission of a draft Bangsamoro Basic Law to Congress and the shift from the ARMM to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.

The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed a peace pact in March. Next on the timetable is the submission of the draft law, which will establish the new autonomous region, to Congress once sessions resume in July, with the target to enact it within the year. Once approved, a plebiscite will be held to determine the areas that will comprise the Bangsamoro. The plan is to have the plebiscite done before the yearend so that the ARMM is wound down and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority takes over by 2015.

The second phase of the Bangsamoro Development Plan covers June 2016 to May 2019 and is timed with the shift from the Bangsamoro Transition Authority to the new set of leaders who will elected in May 2016 and serve until 2019.

Whereas the first phase will focus on projects that are quick to develop, the second phase will focus on plans that will take longer to execute and require bigger budgets but will provide higher dividends. Examples are municipal and provincial roads, seaports, airports and communication facilities.

Crafting began in March 2013 and the plan should be finished next month, Mr. Dipatuan said.

The BDA is the development arm of the MILF. It was created under the Humanitarian, Rehabilitation and Development Aspects of the 2001 Tripoli Agreement between the MILF and the government.

In crafting the Bangsamoro Development Plan, it received a $540,000 grant from the Mindanao Trust Fund administered by the World Bank and assistance from foreign embassies and foreign aid agencies.

Mr. Dipatuan said the BDA ensured that consultations employed a bottoms-up approach and were participative.

“We held grassroots consultations,” he said. “We asked questions like, ‘Why are you dissatisfied? What are your problems? What things will address your problems? What is your vision for the Bangsamoro?’.”

The consultations revealed different needs among those living in mainland Mindanao and those residing in the island provinces of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi. “Those in the islands are concerned with things like seaweed farming, for example,” Mr. Dipatuan said.

The plan is divided into thematic areas: economy, social, politics and governance, culture, security, gender and youth, and environment, which covers natural resources and climate change, among others.

“It is not the usual plan. We are emerging from decades of conflict. Our concerns are distinct from those in the rest of the country. We are concerned, for instance, over halal industries, shariah justice system and madaris, to mention a few,” Mr. Dipatuan said.

Poverty statistics as of 2012 showed the ARMM having a poverty incidence among families of around 49%, the highest nationwide. Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu were among the bottom 10 provinces in terms of the human development index — a measure of well-being — in 2009.

(Original post from https://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Bangsamoro-plan-aims-for-quick-gains-then-bigger-dividends&id=89285 on June 16, 2014)