Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita lamented that instead of being channeled fully to development projects, the Philippine government is compelled to spend substantial amounts to suppress the activities of rebel groups.
He said “funds annually spent for internal security operations to address these conflicts could and should have been used for development purposes if only we were a nation free of these conflicts.”
He also underscored the importance of “armed conflict reduction and prevention in light of the Philippines’ experience in dealing with five armed groups in the last four decades – two Muslim secessionist groups in Southern Philippines, a local communist movement operating all over the country and their two breakaway groups in the Visayas and in the Cordillera region.”
Meanwhile, a Swiss official also disclosed that apart from the tremendous cost in human lives, armed hostilities all over the world cost an estimated $163 billion a year, Ermita said.
The Executive Secretary is representing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Ministerial Review Summit on the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development. (PIA/Bohol)