United Nations Resident Coordinator consults with BARMM leaders, reviews UN projects

To further strengthen the United Nations’ engagement with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), UN Philippines Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez met BARMM government officials, local communities and indigenous leaders during a recent five-day visit to the region.

He visited several United Nations project sites for updates on the UN’s portfolio in the BARMM. 

“As the BARMM government navigates the complex transition to the normalization as part of the peace process, the United Nations Country Team in the Philippines will maintain its support to ensure sustainable development and lasting peace in the region,” Mr Gonzalez said.

He consulted on support needed by regional authorities and residents, including communities such as internally displaced peoples (IDPs) and members of non-Moro indigenous groups, which continue to face challenges amid the ongoing implementation of the Bangsamoro peace process and political transition.

Camp transformation

Mr. Gonzalez visited one of the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) camp transformation project sites—Camp Omar in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur. The camp is one of six Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps where UNDP provides livelihood and enterprise development assistance through the PROACTIVE project. 

The initiative is a joint effort of the UNDP, the European and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) to facilitate the transition and transformation of the former MILF camps into peaceful and productive communities. Representatives of joint national government and MILF peace mechanisms highlighted UNDP’s contributions to sustainable employment improved access to communal services and facilities and strengthened social cohesion through the participation of local stakeholders in peacebuilding. They requested further support, collaboration and complementation of other UN agencies and key partners to address funding challenges and other bottlenecks affecting camp transformation.

Among the project beneficiaries Mr. Gonzalez met were non-Moro indigenous peoples (NMIPs) in the newly built tribal hall supported by UNDP in Kabengi, Datu Saudi Ampatuan. While highly appreciating the tribal hall and development than can benefit them, the NMIP communities and leaders shared concerns regarding the loss of their ancestral domains and the lack of engagement in decision-making affecting their communities. 

He also met MP Froilyn Mendoza, a Teduray CSO leader who was nominated by the Philippine national government to represent NMIPs in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. She informed the Resident Coordinator that indigenous groups that do not belong to the Moro majority in BARMM face security and protection challenges and continue to struggle for recognition of their rights as specified in the Bangsamoro Organic Law. 

Building resilience of women and youth

In addition to camp transformation, the United Nations implements several other initiatives in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, a municipality at the center of the so-called SPMS box, a conflict-afflicted area that stretches across four municipalities in Maguindanao del Sur (Shariff Aguak, Pagatin in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Mamasapano, and Shariff Saydona). Communities within the SPMS box are vulnerable to displacement, either because of flooding or because of conflict between warring clans or between Philippine state forces and the ISIS-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). 

To help foster peace among communities in the area and support displaced women and youth, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) are working with the BARMM Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) and 28 community-based organizations (CBOs) to develop livelihood opportunities resilient to conflict and disaster.

With funding support from the Australian Government, the FAO-UNFPA joint programme on Resilient Livelihoods Development enables women and youth IDPs to participate in sustainable agricultural activities such as agri-based food processing and climate-resilient vegetable gardening.

Mr. Gonzalez met with project beneficiaries in the barangay of Dapiawan for a dialogue on addressing the ongoing challenges faced by CBOs within the context of cyclical displacement.

He also visited the Women-Friendly Space (WFS), a critical component of the joint programme supported by UNFPA. WFS facilitators discussed their vital work supporting rural health units in delivering essential maternal, sexual, and reproductive health services, and preventing and responding to gender-based violence, particularly in remote and crisis-affected areas of Maguindanao.

Internal displacement

At the time of Mr. Gonzalez’s visit, United Nations entities were closely monitoring and assisting flood-affected communities in several provinces in BARMM that were devastated by severe flooding and landslides brought on by heavy rainfall over the region compounded by watershed degradation which encompasses the ancestral domain of the non-Moro IPs. This demonstrated the linkage between the need for protection of NMIP ancestral domains upstream and mitigation of devastating flash floods downstream impacting primarily Moro communities.

In Matanog, Maguindanao del Norte, he engaged with municipal officials and IDPs whose homes were permanently destroyed by flash flooding to identify the most pressing and intermediate needs in order to determine the support required for a coordinated response from humanitarian, government partners and development partners for a longer-term, durable response. 

The United Nations continuously tracks displacement incidents due to disaster or conflict across Mindanao and works closely with regional and local authorities to provide immediate humanitarian assistance and develop durable solutions to help address the root causes of displacement.

Of the 182,400 people who are currently displaced across Mindanao, more than 80,000 – or about 44% – were protractedly displaced by the 2017 Marawi conflict. 

Seven years since the armed confrontation between government forces and pro-ISIS militants, UN entities remain on the ground to assist in the continuing rehabilitation and reconstruction of the city and to support affected communities as attested by the International Organization of Migration’s establishment of a field office in Marawi.

Mr. Gonzalez met IDP leaders, partners and beneficiaries of projects supported by IOM and UNICEF in Marawi to gain a deeper appreciation of the challenges faced by the province and city negatively impacting durable solutions for the IDPs from the Most Affected Areas (MAA) in Marawi. 

As temporary shelter agreements expire after five years, Marawi IDPs have been served eviction notices unless they pay for rent and utilities which they cannot afford due to the lack of livelihoods. Mr. Gonzalez visited Barangay Pugaan, one of the locations of the KOICA-funded IOM initiative to support sustainable community integration of IDPs which showcased community livelihoods and services supported by the communities and local government including a daycare center, madrasah (Arabic school) and tarpaulin printing business that provides jobs.

During his visit, the Resident Coordinator went to the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) supported by UNICEF to reaffirm the United Nations’ commitment to improving communities’ access to quality, efficient and equitable health services. During the recent measles outbreak in Lanao del Sur, joint UN support to the IPHO from UNICEF, WHO, IOM and UNFPA became instrumental in combating the disease.

He assured youth, civil society and IDP leaders and partners that the United Nations will continue to work with them and with provincial and Marawi authorities to pursue sustainable and locally led solutions to displacement and other development issues, such as education, nutrition, water and sanitation, and social policy through initiatives like the European Union-funded UNICEF project “Building community resilience and delivery of essential services for post conflict recovery in Lanao del Sur / Marawi” and  the new joint programme recently launched by UNDP, IOM and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Dubbed “Seeds for Peace,” the programme focuses on developing durable solutions for peace in the BARMM, particularly Marawi, the SPMS box, and the Upi Complex in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte.

With funding from the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund, the project will also strengthen governance processes, conflict prevention and create a safe, voluntary and dignified pathway to resolve the concerns of displaced populations.

Marawi rehabilitation

Another contribution of the United Nations to the reconstruction of Marawi is technical support for the rebuilding and operationalization of the Marawi City Jail, which was the first building to be destroyed during the fighting in the city in 2017. 

Mr. Gonzalez visited the facility, which benefited from policy advice from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which assisted in setting up operational procedures and services for the new correctional facilities to comply with international standards. 

Now considered a model facility that fully aligns with the Nelson Mandela Rules on the minimum treatment of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), the jail will house high-risk PDLs and those with terrorism-related cases.

It serves as a pilot and testing facility for jail management and human rights-based prison reforms in the Philippines.

UN’s engagement in BARMM

Throughout his visit, the Resident Coordinator recognized the remarkable work carried out by the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity  to consolidate peacebuilding investments.

Mr. Gonzalez assured his counterparts that as the BARMM prepares for its first elections in May 2025, the United Nations will further enhance its engagement with authorities and communities to help address pervasive issues such internal displacement, resilience and protection of vulnerable groups, land disputes—especially those concerning ancestral domain—and other emerging concerns of the region’s indigenous peoples.

“The UN will remain fully engaged, in line with the requests of the national and regional authorities,” he said. “Support to BARMM is a key priority for the UN in the Philippines.”