“In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”

Your Excellency Jose Yusof Lorena, OPAPP’s Undersecretary for Bangsamoro Programs, distinguished representatives of WB and the MTF Secretariat headed by Matt Stephens, prominent representatives of JICA headed by Senior Adviser for Mindanao Juro Chikaraishi, other honorable members of the Project Steering Committee, Advisory Council and Core Planning Team of the BDP Project, eminent friends and guests from the development community, esteemed BDA Advisers and colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

Assalaamo Alaikom wa Rahmatollaahi wa Barakaatoho. Peace be with you and a very good morning to each and every one.

My profound thanks to all of you for taking the time to join us in this First Development Partners Forum to discuss the Concept Note for the preparation of the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP). We are truly honored by your presence.

To contextualize our forum today, allow me to reiterate that the formulation of a Bangsamoro Comprehensive Development Plan has been a top priority of BDA, as MILF’s development arm, since it was created in 2002 as a product of the GPH-MILF Peace process. Financial constraints, however, hindered us in realizing our dream.

The signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 25 October 2012 has re-ignited our burning desire to re-visit the preparation of the plan especially after receiving an official communication from no less than Hon. Brother Al-haj Murad Ebrahim, Chairman of MILF Central Committee, on 22^nd March 2013 directing me as Chairman of BDA “to coordinate with donor and funding partners, to conduct needs assessment in the Bangsamoro immediately, and to expedite the completion of the formulation of the BDP”.

Since then, we’ve convened several meetings and worked hard with a number of enthusiastic partners to prepare the concept note of the Bangsamoro Development Plan, which hugely benefited from numerous opinions, comments and suggestions from well-experienced and highly educated individuals.

The latest additions in the concept note were done after the 1^st Project Steering Committee Meeting held at the World Bank Office at the Fort on 14 August 2013 to reflect important inputs and suggestions that transpired during the said historic meeting. The recent meeting of the BDA Board of Directors and discussions with BDA-nominated members of the Advisory Council in Cotabato City on 24 August 2013 as well as the continuing consultations with BDA Technical Advisers also yielded very important and indispensable inputs.

Today, we are taking the very first step together which we know will be a long journey toward building our capacities and implementing meaningful projects on the ground to meet the needs and aspirations of the peoples of the Bangsamoro.

We are beginning our journey in the true and sincere spirit of humbly and earnestly seeking your support for helping us to prepare a solid Plan for the medium and long term.

For this purpose, the concept note has been distributed to you by email prior to this meeting for the information of all. The same will also be presented to you today by my distinguished BDA colleague in the Core Planning Team.

The concept note, which has now reached its 10^th version, is clearly a work in progress and, so far, it has benefitted immensely from very constructive and useful comments from many professionals, some of whom are present among us today.

We hope to collect more useful ideas from all of you at this meeting to crystallize our thinking and incorporate any suggestions so as to help us make further refinements to the concept note, as appropriate.

We are especially interested to learn from you about potential areas where you may be interested to provide support in specific sectors or themes as enunciated in the concept note.

I would like to note that although the World Bank, thru the MTF-RDP, and JICA are providing support to the formulation of the Plan, there remain areas where other partners could come in also, commensurate with your areas of interest or for scaling up on-going projects or considering additional development programs over the medium to long term.

Moreover, we would appreciate it very much if you can inform us of your intentions to examine support for governance, capacity building and institutional development needs, as these software interventions would form a vital complement to hardware components considered under the Plan.

This request is in keeping with the major thrust of the Plan that is premised on framework of Sustainable Human Development and Peace building for Mindanao, a framework anchored on the Right to Self Determination context of the Bangsamoro area.

Also, the BDA Development Framework espouses the BDA Core Values as an important ethic in building a new culture and mindset of development among the Bangsamoro communities. These core values include, but not limited to: vicegerency, transparency, trustworthiness, inclusiveness, accountability, excellence, justice and piety as contained in the BDA Manual.

A point I would like to highlight is that there are some unique or special characteristics of the region that distinguish us from other parts of the country. Hence, it will be important to bear these in mind when considering support for the sectors of your interest.

BDA advisers and staff will be more than happy to work with you to help you better understand the context and situation in our region.

Some of these characteristics are borne out in the Annex attached to the concept note, while more details will emerge in the terms of reference for consultants who will be assigned to undertake the preparations for individual sectors.

In this regard, we have already begun the work on the ToRs and expect to finish in the coming days.

Indeed, when we think about it, we fully recognize that the task ahead of us is daunting, and that it can only be done thru effective and sincere partnership among all partners from the development community.

Most certainly also this partnership will especially involve our Bangsamoro communities who know best what their real needs are. In this regard, the Plan envisages a rigorous consultative process within the Bangsamoro territory as envisaged in the FAB.

We are also fully cognizant of our mission not to forget our fellow Bangsamoro who are living outside the Bangsamoro territory. In fact, three of the seven regional management offices of BDA are presently located in such areas as Southern Mindanao Region with their office in General Santos City, Davao Region with their office in Mati, Davao Oriental, and Zamboanga Peninsula Region with their office in Pagadian City.

This approach is in keeping with the theme of our Plan which is: Promoting Inclusive Growth and Stability in the Bangsamoro Area.

We look forward to fruitful discussions during this first Development Partners Forum.

May I now invite Honorable Brother Undersecretary Lorena to say a few words.

Wassalaamo Alaimkum and good day to All./Dr. Saffrullah M. Dipatuan – BDA Chairman. 3 September 2013, AIM Conference Center, Makati City, Metro Manila.

Opening Remarks by BDA Chair at First Development Partners Forum