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ZAMBOANGA
CITY
—Military officials stationed on the island
province of
Sulu
have come up with a concept paper entitled, “Poverty
Alleviation through Enhancement of Agri-fishery
Cooperatives,” believing that economic development helps
achieve lasting peace in a particular place.
The
concept paper is aimed at providing the strategies and
insights in the utilization of the cooperatives as the
channel toward poverty alleviation and economic
upliftment in the attainment of lasting peace and
sustainable development.
It was
presented on Wednesday by Joint Task Force Comet (JTFC)
chief Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban to all concerned
stakeholders during a consultation meeting held at the
Provincial Area Coordinating Center in Jolo, the
province’s capital, where key military and civil
government officials attended.
Sabban
said although Sulu is blessed with agricultural
endowments, setbacks have limited productivity gains to
optimize the province, which, if addressed is an
essential contributor to Sulu’s economy and livelihood
source or employment to its people.
The
concept paper highlights a common agenda and advocacy
strategy in the promotion and organization of
agrifishery cooperatives for livelihood and human
development, according to Sabban.
Spending
several years in Sulu since his younger days as a marine
officer, Sabban said he knows the province is rich in
agriculture and understands the importance of
agriculture in the economy and in the realization of the
military’s peace mission.
Sabban’s
command is tasked to run after the remaining leaders and
members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf in the island
province of Sulu.
Sabban
said the concept paper is the military’s initial input
as support to the ongoing efforts of the provincial
government, which suggests actions that pay adequate
attention to development.
“This
[concept paper] empowers the people to be self-reliant,
productive and participative in the attainment of peace
and prosperity,” he said.
“The
alleviation of human suffering is the ultimate goal. It
is a long-term solution, but lays a firm foundation of
sustainable development and lasting peace for all,” he
added.
He said
peace is the military’s ultimate mission in the province
of Sulu.
However,
he acknowledged that to achieve peace, it requires a
holistic approach of empowering all the government and
nongovernment machineries to synchronize efforts in
achieving mutual goals.
“Convergence of efforts and cooperation are paramount to
effectively respond and adequately address the needs of
the people. An environment conducive to equitably shared
economic growth is fundamental to reducing poverty,
[and] trims down criminality,” he explained.
Col.
Celestino Pereyra, chief of the 2nd Marine Brigade, one
of the military commands under the JTFC, pointed out
that reaching toward the goal is the responsibility of
all stakeholders.
“Each
group has its own part to play, its own unique
contribution to strengthen the agriculture and fishery
communities and cooperative reliability,” Pereyra said.
During
the presentation, Rosa Felina Solares, a deputized
cooperative organizer of the Cooperative Development
Authority, explained the strategies and insights in the
utilization of the cooperatives toward poverty
alleviation and economic upliftment in the attainment of
lasting peace and sustainable development, which the
concept intends to achieve. |
