Yoshi’s passion for Mindanao (Vol 4: Mindanao Peace Process)

        Do you know that Japan has strongly supported the Mindanao Peace Process?
 
       When I transferred from Washington DC to Manila in 2005, the Japanese Embassy in Manila received many calls from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that they wanted Japan to be actively involved in the Mindanao Peace Process. For this reason, I repeatedly visited Cotabato City, met many people concerned there and learned the complexity of the problems in Mindanao. I desperately thought about how to eliminate the longstanding conflict, chain of hatred, prejudice, poverty, injustice and lack of governance, to make Muslim soldiers live peacefully and to make Muslim children return from the battlefield to school. I had constant in-depth discussion with respectable human rights lawyer, Atty. Zen Malang who is originally from Cotabato.
 
        In 2006, Japan dispatched the first contingent, Mr. Masafumi Nagaishi of JICA, to the International Monitoring Team (IMT) composed of Malaysia, Brunei and Libya, and Japan was the first non-Muslim member of IMT. We also launched the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD), which is meant to directly benefit the local people in order for them to feel the dividends of peace.

       Two Japanese women played decisive roles in Japan's assistance to the Mindanao Peace Process.
       The first woman was then Political Minister Taeko Takahashi of the Embassy of Japan in Manila. She continuously motivated me to dedicate myself to the Mindanao Peace Process, she wrote up a scenario for Japan's assistance and said in public that "Japan will give money, send people and also meddle in the process". She was loved by both the Philippine Government and MILF, and a truly respectable diplomat.
      The other woman was then JICA President Sadako Ogata. In 2006, she ventured into the MILF Camp Darapanan and met MILF Chairman Murad. In 2008, when the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was declared unconstitutional, a series of conflicts erupted and many countries withdrew from Central Mindanao, Madame Ogata said "My strong belief is to do something opposite from everybody, if we are in extremely difficult position to decide." and far from withdrawing, Japan doubled the assistance. In 2010, after the peace talks resumed, one of the MILF’s top leaders recalled their critical times with tears and told me "There was a time when the international societies abandoned us. At that time, only Japan trusted us and never abandoned us. MILF will never forget what Japan did to us." In 2011, Japan hosted the "Narita Confidential Meeting" between then incumbent President Noynoy Aquino and MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim for the first time in history and the meeting was a result of their deep trust for Japan.

        Under the J-BIRD, which I and the first IMT member Mr. Masafumi Nagaishi named, Japan has so far provided about 35 billion Japanese yen (about 15 billion Philippine pesos). For example, Japan has built 52 school buildings in Mindanao. Japan's assistance will continue until the final peace is achieved.