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Housing project in Basilan eyed for MNLF, MILF members

By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.

April 24, 2023, 5:40 pm

<p><strong>SETTLEMENT PROJECT.</strong> Southern Philippines Development Authority Administrator Abdulghani Salapuddin bares plans to putt up a People Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE) village in Basilan province for Moro National Liberation Front and Moro Islamic Liberation Front members. In a press conference Monday (April 24, 2023), he says the village will be established in an area declared as a settlement site by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. <em>(PNA photo by Teofilo P. Garcia Jr.)</em></p>

SETTLEMENT PROJECT. Southern Philippines Development Authority Administrator Abdulghani Salapuddin bares plans to putt up a People Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE) village in Basilan province for Moro National Liberation Front and Moro Islamic Liberation Front members. In a press conference Monday (April 24, 2023), he says the village will be established in an area declared as a settlement site by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. (PNA photo by Teofilo P. Garcia Jr.)

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) is eyeing the formation of a settlement project for members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Basilan province.

SPDA Administrator Abdulghani Salapuddin said Monday that the project, known as the People Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE) village, will be established on an 8,000-hectare settlement area in Basilan.

Salapuddin said the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. had proclaimed 16,000 hectares of land in Basilan as a settlement area.

“Of the total area, 8,000 hectares had already been given to four settlements. There are still 8,000 hectares of land where we will put up the PEACE village,” he said.

Salapuddin said the project proposal has been submitted to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim for allotment from the region’s special development fund.

Beneficiaries of the PEACE village will be identified by the MNLF and MILF members based in Basilan province with an agricultural plantation forming part of the PEACE village to sustain the community.

“We just don’t resettle people, we want to turn them into an economic community,” Salapuddin said.

The SPDA is one of the government-owned and controlled corporations under the Office of the President. (PNA)

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