Development for Peace in Sulu

Trip Summary

	Faculty of Fisheries College of Mindanao State University in Jolo demonstrate processed fish and vacuum packed sardines, assisted by training and scholarships supported by the Asia America Initiative.
	AAI Philippines Manager, Atty. Nabil Tan, and AAI construction consultant, Engineer Michael Abubakar, discuss long-term plans for schools and housing construction in Sulu with AAI Director Al Santoli.
	New housing project in impoverished Patikul District of Sulu, planned and built by AAI consultant Engineer Abubakar.
	Ms.Rohaniza Sumndad, AAI Program Development Coordinator, gives a hand to construction workers at a housing site in Patikul.
	The only deep-well digging drill in Sulu Province owned by Eng. Abubakar, will provide clean water to schools built under AAI's Development for Peace program.
	AAI Director at Kasambuhan Village Elementary School in the conflict area in Indanan, Sulu, where the overcrowded public school is being expanded with a new schoolhouse built by Eng. Abubakar and funded by AAI. AAI hopes to build a number of similar schoolhouses in new "peace zones" at a cost of $6,500 per schoolhouse.
	A third-grade class in the overcrowded Kasambuhan Village elementary school.
	Construction has begun for the new schoolhouse at Kasambuhan Elementary School.
	Sulu Department of Education officials, Kasambuhan faculty and the AAI team inspect the site of the new school house.
	AAI Director Santoli, Philippines Coordinator Tan and senior Muslim cleric in Jolo, Ustadz Ibrahim Ghazali, discuss community-led plans for "peace zones" around the city of Jolo.
	High school students at the Jolo School of Fisheries, provided with desks, chalkboards, and in the near future, textbooks under the AAI Development for Peace in Sulu program.
	A freshman classroom at the Jolo (High) School of Fisheries who are scheduled to receive new desks, textbooks and classroom supplies through the AAI.
	Scholarship recipients under the AAI's "Community Service Scholarship" program who graduated from Sulu High School in spring 2005 are now attending classes at Notre Dame of Jolo College.
	New chicks at the AAI supported poultry livelihood program at the Jolo Agricultural High School, which is the only poultry and fresh egg cooperative in Jolo.
	Wide streets and landscaped neighborhoods in the Patikul housing project, where residents help to build their homes for low prices similar to Habitat for Humanity.

  

DPIS June 2005 Trip Summary

In June 2005, the Asia America Initiative continued to help establish a process for peace zones in conflict-plagued Sulu Province between government forces and Muslim guerillas in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the southern Philippines. Asia America Initiative Director Al Santoli, accompanied by AAI Philippines project manager Atty. Nabil Tan and AARM Attorney General Jose Lorena, conducted a three-day working visit to the island of Jolo, home area to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group (ASG). The AAI delegation was warmly received by local community and inter-faith religious leaders, Philippine Army commanders, and the Jolo area MNLF senior leadership in support of  the AAI's innovative community-based Development for Peace in Sulu (DPIS) program.

The model schools and livelihood activities of AAI are located in the province capital of Jolo, with a population of over 250,000. Although armed conflict was re-ignited in Sulu in February 2005, the area where the DPIS program is being conducted remained free of armed conflict and terrorism. In April, during Mr. Santoli's previous visit, a grassroots peace movement was initiated and organized by senior Islamic clergy and scholars and local civic leaders. The mediation of the AAI, in coordination with the national and regional government, as well as local community leaders, is in line with the original mandate of the DPIS Program: to coordinate social and economic development as a means to achieve sustainable peace.

The strategic Sulu province, consisting of 150 islands, is located near the maritime borders of Malaysia and Indonesia. The Tausug Moro tribal inhabitants of Sulu are legendary for their warrior skills. The presence of the AAI in Sulu has prevented the deployment of over-stretched U.S. Marines and soldiers into yet another hot spot of the volatile region.

This peace-building effort, supported by both the ARMM leadership and the Office of the Philippines President, is in the first stages of organizing "peace zones" or "no-hostility zones" around the perimeter of the province capitol. These areas of non-violence, such as the DPIS communities are intended to be a first step to ending hostilities between mainstream MNLF Muslim rebels whose grievances are fueled by poverty and a failure of the 1996 Peace Agreement to solve the region's social and economic disparities. The peace-building effort is also intended to prevent violent extremists and criminals such as the Abu Sayyaf Group, who have no formal connection to the MNLF, from taking advantage of instability to create further violence and chaos, as well as attract disillusioned youth to their movement.

In addition to helping to organizing the grassroots peace committees, among his activities, Mr. Santoli:

• Furthered the AAI's Adopt a Classroom project, with donated school supplies from schools around the United States.
• Began construction of a new schoolhouse in "No-Man's Land" area in the town of Indanan, the birthplace of the MNLF. Due to a personal threat from the Abu Sayyaf terrorists before the visit, Mr. Santoli's security in Indanan was provided by Philippine Christian soldiers, Muslim guerillas and the local population. The new school is a victory against Abu Sayyaf efforts to spread their influence by preying upon poverty and hopelessness.
• Provided chairs, desks and chalkboards to two new pre-schools in the town of Patikul established by the wife of the mayor. Patikul, is an area of devastating poverty, endemic violence and the birthplace of Abu Sayyaf founders and leaders.
• Solidified educational partnerships with the Catholic Notre Dame College of Jolo and Jesuit Ateneo de Zamboanga University for AAI "Community Service Scholarship" students from Jolo, Patikul and Indanan who graduated from high school in 2005 to have a quality college education. The Ateneo is also teaching computer and high-tech education skills to public school teachers in DPIS model schools.
• Conducted planning sessions and provided resources for the Fisheries and Agricultural High Schools, as well as the Fisheries School at Mindanao to further livelihood fish products and poultry farm cooperatives.
• Mr. Santoli also helped raise funds to complete the renovation of the Province's only functional hospital for its 600,000 inhabitants, and explored the feasibility and costs of funding a hospital ship or floating clinic for the 150 islands of Jolo province desperately lacking medical care.

The Development for Peace in Sulu program is implemented through joint efforts with local NGO partners, American private foundations and corporations, logistics support by the Philippine armed forces, as well as a modest grant to build educational infrastructure from the U.S. Congress through the USAID. The AAI is honored to be a member of the USAID-organized EQUALLS education coalition, which is comprised of Philippine and U.S. humanitarian organizations and the U.S. Peace Corps.

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