It should be noted that among all these government agencies’ programs there is none dedicated
to the development of ADs pursuing ADSDPPs.
The closest to an AD development fund is the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan or PAMANA
fund. PAMANA is the government’s peace and development framework that aims to respond and
strengthen peace building, reconstruction and development in conflict affected areas (CAAs) as
well as sustain all on-going governance and development initiatives on the ground. Its main
strategy is to bring back government in these communities by ensuring that they benefit from
improved delivery of basic social services and are served by responsive, transparent and
accountable governments on resource allocation and utilization, alongside economic
development efforts.
The Government is adopting a two-pronged approach: (1) negotiated political settlement of all
armed conflict through peace negotiations; and (2) undertaking programs aimed at addressing
the root causes of armed conflict through interventions on the ground to strengthen peacebuilding, reconstruction and development in conflict-vulnerable areas.
The PAMANA Program, as embodied in the Philippine Development Plan for 2011 to 2016, was
launched as the National Government’s framework for intervention in conflict vulnerable areas to
complement the peace negotiation efforts in line with its commitment to address the causes of
conflict and issues affecting the peace process. The Program will be implemented within the 5year period from 2011 to 2016.
The program has distributed monetary assistance packages in the ARMM and other areas of
Mindanao worth PhP 360,355,502.65 from 2013-2015. 14
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) has asked and received a
budget increase of over 1,000% in 2017 – from more than P700 million in 2016 to P8 billion in
2017. Secretary Jesus Dureza said the huge jump in allocation is due to the agency's
implementation of the PAMANA program, which costs P7 billion in lump sum funds.
Website reports do not indicate a monitoring mechanism to gauge impact. OPAPP’s oversight
functions covers facilitation of program planning from the ground up and monitoring of project
implementation while actual implementation is undertaken by national government agencies,
while local governments as implementing partners.
Moreover, it is not clear whether IPs have been recipients of said funds. As of writing of this report,
the CHR is only aware of only one tribe that has been a recipient of PAMANA funds, the
Matigsalug of Bukidnon whose CADT cover a wide expanse in excess of 500,000 hectares in
Mindanao. Finally, no monitoring tools were mentioned in the PAMANA website.
Relatedly, there is need for regular support from the State to Indigenous Peoples Organizations
or IPOs to complement the proposals above pursuant to pertinent provision of IPRA under
Chapter IV section 19 and 21 on the right to self-governance and empowerment where it is clearly
stated that to the “(t)he State shall recognize and respect the role of independent ICCs/IPs
organizations to enable the ICCs/IPs to pursue and protect their legitimate and collective interests
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Department of Agriculture and Fisheries website
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