The Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan Program (PAMANA) through the Department of Budget and Management has approved an additional ₱745.5 million to bolster peace and development activities throughout the country.
This allocation is part of the ₱32.3 billion in new expenditure items recently approved by President Benigno S. Aquino III.
The program establishes policy reforms at the national level, bolstering the Aquino administration’s agenda of facilitating socio-economic growth in risk-prone areas, delivers social services to conflict-affected communities, and links these communities to markets for job generation and for easier flow of goods and services through vital infrastructures like farm-to-market roads.
The additional funding allocation will buttress the implementation of closure agreements in the Cordilleras and Visayas, support PAMANA communities affected by Typhoon Pablo, information, education and communication efforts on the peace negotiations, among other activities.
The Philippines was ranked as one of the top 5 countries with the highest improvements in peacefulness this year, together with Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bhutan, and Guyana, based on the 2012 Global Peace Index by the Institute for Economics and Peace.
PAMANA is jointly implemented by the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process (OPAPP), the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines (DND-AFP), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Regional Government of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
