PH offers to help Colombia in peace process, disaster resilience

Camille Elemia

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PH offers to help Colombia in peace process, disaster resilience
President Benigno Aquino III extends the help to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. The Colombian leader, in turn, offers his country's experience in fighting the illegal drug trade.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has offered to help Colombia in its peace process with communist rebels and in its disaster resilience program, Malacañang said on Tuesday, November 17.

President Benigno Aquino III extended the offer to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos during their bilateral meeting in Malacañang Palace on Tuesday.

Aquino offered Santos “assistance and advice” on peace processes, Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said in a statement.

Aquino also told Santos he would share “learnings and best practices” in establishing disaster resiliency, as the Colombian leader said he looks up to the Philippines as a “vital resource” in mitigating the effects of climate change.

The Philippine leader made the offer after he congratulated Santos for the “significant development” in its “peace process and negotiations” with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The Philippines itself has yet to seal a peace agreement with communist rebels, as negotiations have been stalled by allegations and counter-allegations of lack of sincerity to see the process through.

It had more success with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The Philippine government and the MILF signed early last year the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which seeks to end the decades-long conflict in the Southern Philippines.

While this is a significant step, the enabling law to institutionalize the provisions of the agreement is still pending in Congress.

In Colombia, the parties in the peace process have agreed on a March 2016 deadline to sign a final document. 

Fight vs illegal drug trade

Aside from their love for telenovelas and their history as former colonies of Spain, Colombia and the Philippines share long-standing problems as well, such the communist insurgency and the illegal drug trade.

Santos offered his country’s knowledge and experience in the anti-insurgency and anti-illegal drugs campaign, citing Colombia’s decades-long fight on these two fronts.

“Like Colombia, the Philippines is taking steps to improve people’s quality of life by bringing social opportunities closer to them, thus channeling their energies to legitimate sources of income,” Coloma said.

Aquino shared the Philippines’ experience in pursuing social services programs such as the Conditional Cash Transfer program, universal health care, and anti-poverty measures to stop the insurgency, which is rooted in poverty, among others.

Colombia entry into APEC

Aquino thanked Santos for accepting his invitation to participate in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation-Pacific Alliance informal conversation.

While Columbia is not a member-economy of the APEC, it has long expressed its interest to join the alliance.

In 1997, however, APEC issued a 10-year suspension on new membership. It was extended until 2010. 

In a statement, Coloma said Aquino “noted that the efforts and initiatives of Colombia to become a part of APEC [would] hopefully find full fruition in the near future.” – Rappler.com

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Camille Elemia

Camille Elemia is a former multimedia reporter for Rappler. She covered media and disinformation, the Senate, the Office of the President, and politics.