By Rene
V. Carbayas
ISABELA
CITY, Basilan – A livelihood center that hopes to address the
decades-old conflict will soon rise in Tipo-Tipo, south of Basilan.
At the
special meeting of the Basilan Peace and Development Coordinating Committee,
the Team Basilan was briefed by the Joint Special Operations Task
Force-Philippines on the planned livelihood training center, which will also
become the convergence center for national government agencies providing
related activities in this southern part of the country.
Captain
Tanner Fleck, Civil Affairs Commander of the JSOTF-P US Forces said that in a
survey conducted in the southern part of the Basilan, they were surprised at
the outcome of the survey showing that the residents want livelihood.
“We were
expecting that people would identify “rido” and peace and order situation as
their primary problem, but we were surprised that livelihood was echoed many
times as the need of Basileños,” he said.
Fleck
said he talked to a number of government agencies and discovered that a lot of
agencies were already conducting livelihood training programs.
“Unfortunately,
these livelihood training programs are confined in the northern part of
Basilan, particularly in Isabela and Lamitan cities for reasons of security,”
he noted.
In
collaboration with an AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) counterpart and the
provincial government through Tahira Ismael, Fleck said that they thought of a
possible solution to address the need for bringing the services down south of
Basilan. And so, he said, the idea of a training center was developed.
“A safe,
large center where you can consolidate your programs from different agencies
for them to run their various programs,” Fleck added, saying that it is
envisioned to function in full spectrum, meaning not just the training on
livelihood skills but also training programs on micro-financing, business
management, leadership, and marketing, among others.
Some
members of the Team Basilan expressed concern over the security of the area
where the proposed center will be established. Tipo-Tipo and its surrounding
municipalities are conflict-prone areas which may compromise the success of the
training center as this will discourage trainers to hold sessions in Tipo-Tipo.
While the
project proponents understood the risk of pursuing the project in Tipo-Tipo,
Fleck said that “this is precisely the reason why we wanted the program to be
established right in the conflict-affected area as we feel that we will be able
to create greater impact in our desire to achieve peace in Basilan.”
He said
that the challenge now lies on the local government of Tipo-Tipo with the full
support of the provincial government of Basilan to improve the peace and order
situation in the southern part of the island province.
The Joint
Special Operations Task Force-Philippines has also asked for an implementing
arrangement concerning the project: Tipo-Tipo Livelihood Assistance center with
the purpose of delineating responsibilities, coordinate, and establish
administrative arrangements for the execution of the project.
The
Tipo-Tipo Livelihood Assistance Center is a U.S. Pacific Command-approved and
funded Humanitarian Assistance (HA) project. This project involves the
solicitation, award, and execution of a U.S. Government construction contract,
utilizing construction and design firms properly licensed in the Philippines
and legally contracted by NAVFAC Pacific for the construction of one warehouse,
one classroom building, one dormitory structure, administrative office space, a
kitchen and male/female comfort rooms in the barangay of Poblacion, Tipo-Tipo
Proper, Tipo-Tipo Municipality, Basilan.
Fleck
said that they were just waiting for the release of the funds to start the
project soon. (PIA9)