TWO renowned Philippine Army Scout Rangers—Western Mindanao Command Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. and newly-installed AFP Spokesperson Lt. Col. Harold M. Cabunoc—are grantees of the Eisenhower Fellowships which was established in 1953 by friends of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower to work towards the latter’s aspiration for a “more prosperous, just and peaceful world.”
The Eisenhower Fellowships identifies innovative leaders from all professions and inspires them to leverage their own talents to better the world around Galvez and Cabunoc are members of the Eisenhower Fellows Association of the Philippines (EFAP) composed of business, government, and reform movement leaders who are working to achieve a comprehensive peace and development program that will give rise to substantial changes in the lives of Filipinos.
Among the other distinguished members of EFAP are business leader Jaime Zobel de Ayala, former Rep. Risa Hontiveros, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Mujiv Cognizant of the need to revitalize the economy of the once resource-rich province of Basilan which they both served—Galvez as battalion and Cabunoc as company commander—both alumni were able to persuade their fellow EFAP members to help in bringing peace and prosperity to the beleaguered province which has, since stepping into her soil, considered them both as her own sons.
Honorary EFAP Chairperson Zobel de Ayala believed that Basilan would be a strategic area for development intervention as the country prepares for the transition of Muslim Mindanao to the Bangsamoro autonomous government, adding that, in fact, the EFAP has since 2011 decided to focus the talents of its members to contribute to the development of Muslim Mindanao.
To jumpstart such efforts, the EFAP will be launching the Basilan Development Program on Tuesday, October 7, with some of the country’s more prominent Eisenhower fellows sharing their ideas on peace building and discussing the issues on the proposed Bangsamoro region.
Ayala, Hataman, Eisenhower Fellowships Trustee Derek Chilvers, and Balay Mindanaw senior director Ariel Hernandez will also present the strategies and components of the Basilan Development Program.
The Eisenhower Fellows will utilize their knowledge and resources to establish resilient and peaceful communities in the province of Basilan as a model of the ideals of the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro.
The province had received in the early 1990s undue notoriety as a lair of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group. The people of Basilan have also suffered conflict, displacement, poverty, and underdevelopment since the dawn of the Moro uprising in 1971.
The strategic development program is expected to capacitate selected municipalities with aims of improving their governance standards, improving health and education indicators, peace and security, enterprise development and skills-based employment, and youth leadership development.
In particular, Brig. Gen. Galvez will work with EFAP members to strengthen and institutionalize the provincial and municipal peace and order councils in Basilan.
Other microfinance and micro-entrepreneurship efforts in the province will include the promotion of grassroots economic development with two parallel strategies, one of which is establishing a value-chain based enterprise development by organizing and training farmers in business development, business planning and operation for community-driven enterprises, and sustaining the scaling up of enterprises by selling their products directly to the market. The other strategy is towards women-led technopreneurship, by providing technical skills training to hardworking Basilenas.
The Ayala Young Leaders Congress will help EFPA select and work with young and promising Basileños to become future leaders who will help veer their people away from conflict and poverty towards a time of peace and sustainable development.
Basilan City was the fourth largest city in the country between the 1950s and 1960s during which time it was classified as a first class city. The EFAP believes that Basilan has the potential to swing back to its former glory if only enough efforts were given to it by government and private sector organizations, and that it has the potential to be a rising star in the Bangsamoro region. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT/JOSEPHINE JARON CODILLA
.. Continue: Remate.ph (source)
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