Spain to fund Philippines' counter-insurgency projects

Manila - Spain has approved a grant of 20 million pesos (500,000 dollars) to support counter-insurgency projects in an eastern Philippine province, a government statement said Sunday. The money would be used for small-scale infrastructure projects in Sorsogon province, 500 kilometres south-east of Manila, according to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The projects include a village road in Gubat town, rehabilitation of a communal irrigation system and the repair of a public school, it said.

Ambassador to the Philippines Luis Arias-Romero said Spain was committed to peaceful resolution of the long armed conflict in the Philippines.

"Without peace and stability there are no possibilities for development in any region," he said.

Communist rebels have been fighting the government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.

The guerrillas withdrew from peace talks in 2005 after they accused the government of having a hand in the inclusion of the Communist Party of the Philippines on lists of foreign terrorist organizations of several countries, including the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310407,spain-to-fund-philippines-counter-insurgency-projects.html.