n
Mindanao kidnappings will not stop until the government addresses the real
problem which is poverty. Father Sebastiano d’Ambra, a member of PIME, working
in Mindanao, says: "Even if the Abu Sayyaf Group is eliminated by both
Filipino and American forces, peace will only be temporary; soon other kidnap
groups will emerge, with new faces, new names".
Kidnapping will only stop if the government addresses the real problem here and that is poverty... The high degree of corruption in government is the biggest problem for the government itself
Over the past few days terrorism has sown panic again in the Southern Philippines. There were bomb blasts on April 21 and 22 in the city of General Santos at the southernmost point of Mindanao, during a visit there by the country’s President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The blast this morning in a shopping area killed fourteen people, four of them children, and left about seventy injured. The Abu Sayyaf group has claimed responsibility for today’s bomb blast. The group is suspected of being connected with Al-Qaeda international terrorist network. On April 20, 300 American soldiers landed in Basilan in southern Mindanao. They will train and support Filipino troops in the war on terrorism in the area. With their arrival, the US contingent in the Philippines rises to about 1,000 men: 650 were sent here in February.
"Kidnapping will only stop if the government addresses the real problem here and that is poverty" Father d'Ambra said. One obstacle in the fight to eliminate poverty is corruption: loans and grants from international bodies such as the World Bank, disappear before reaching the intended beneficiaries. "The high degree of corruption in government is the biggest problem for the government itself," the missionary points out. Official estimates say that in the last twenty years about US$ 48 billion was lost on account of corruption, exceeding the country’s entire foreign debt of US$ 40.6 billion.
Other funding agencies such as the Asian development Bank fear anomalies. "They are concerned that the money would not reach the beneficiaries for whom the funds are meant" explains Father d’Ambra.
The Italian missionary, originally from Sicily, as been on mission in Mindanao since 1977. He is one of the founders of Silsilah Dialogue Centre opened in 1984. Silsilah means "bond", the bond which binds man to God. During his years here, twice he has had to return to Italy because of threats to his life. But despite the difficulties, Father d’Ambra wants to stay in Mindanao and continue his work among Christians and Muslims. Recently Father d’Ambra has been asked by a foreign organization which intends to donate medicines to the people of Basilian "to facilitate for them so the medicines will reach the right people and not those who make profits out of donations".
(From Fides)