The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved an additional P745.5 million to bolster peace and development activities throughout the country under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan Program (Pamana).

“The release complements the progress we’ve so far made at establishing security and development across the country. Through these funds, we can help ensure that impoverished families in conflict-affected areas will receive critical goods and services that were, in the past, compromised by regular armed conflict,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

The additional funding will buttress the implementation of closure agreements in the Cordilleras and Visayas, support Pamana communities affected by Typhoon Pablo (international codename: Bopha), and facilitate information, education and communication efforts on the peace negotiations, among other activities.

Pamana is jointly implemented by the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process, the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Regional Government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The program establishes policy reforms at the national level, 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.

Meanwhile, Abad said: “The Pamana is one of the key ways through which we are able to address socio-economic issues that have long plagued risk-prone communities. Not only will they benefit from the reform and economic successes posted under this Administration; they can also make a gradual transition towards enduring peace and stability.”

The Philippines was ranked as one of the top five countries with the highest improvement in peacefulness last year—together with Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bhutan and Guyana—based on the 2012 Global Peace Index by the Institute for Economics and Peace.