QUEZON CITY—The House of Representatives (HoR) on Monday, September 23, approved the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) amounting to Php 7.095 billion during the HoR’s budget deliberations.
Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. thanked the members of Congress under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez for supporting the approval of OPAPRU’s 2025 peace budget.

“The approval of our agency’s budget is a validation that the national government’s peace agenda is on the right track and continues to gain momentum. Moreover, it is a vote of confidence in our peacebuilding efforts,” Galvez said.

The peace adviser emphasized that the 2025 budget is an “investment for peace,” which is crucial in sustaining the transformation of former combatants, their families, and communities, and ensuring the implementation of all signed peace agreements.

“We are determined to maximize every centavo of this allocation to ensure the consistent implementation of the country’s comprehensive peace process,” Galvez vowed.

Galvez thanked Lanao del Sur First District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong, who serves as vice-chairperson of the Committee of Appropriations, for sponsoring and defending OPAPRU’s proposed budget.

According to Adiong, the peace process office’s budget “is not merely a financial allocation…It represents our government’s commitment to addressing the root causes of armed conflict.”

OPAPRU FY 2024 GAA vs FY 2025 NEP

For FY 2024, the OPAPRU was allocated a budget of Php 6.9 billion, the bulk of which has been appropriated for projects under its PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn (PAMANA) Program.

Meanwhile, of the agency’s proposed budget for FY 2025 which amounted to Php 10.4 billion, only over Php 7 billion was approved under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for FY 2025.

Of the approved Php 7 billion, Php 5.3 billion shall cover critical PAMANA projects to sustain the momentum of what have been started in 2024. The PAMANA projects accounts for over 74% of the OPAPRU’s 2025 NEP.

Here is the breakdown of OPAPRU’s budget for its other peace tables: Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF): Php 1.4 billion; Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF): Php 600 million; Local Peace Engagements (LPE) and Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF): Php 1 billion; Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPM-P/RPA/ABB): 550M; and Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CBA-CPLA) Php 570 million.

PAMANA: Empowering communities

PAMANA is a comprehensive, cross-cutting development program of the Philippine government that is designed to address the root causes of conflict in isolated, hard-to-reach peace and development focus areas in the country.

The Program aims to foster peace and development in these localities and address the main drivers of conflict by providing much needed basic services, improving governance, and empowering communities.

The strength of the PAMANA Program lies in its community-based approach wherein local government units (LGUs) are at the forefront of project implementation. This is to ensure greater involvement and ownership on the part of LGUs.

With each PAMANA infrastructure project costing less than Php 100 million, these facilities aim to encourage collaboration among beneficiaries, and consequently, foster social cohesion in communities.

What makes PAMANA projects different from other government initiatives is the concept of conflict-sensitive and peace promotion (CSPP) wherein projects are designed in such a way that they do not cause tension in the community but rather unite and bring people together.

More PAMANA projects in 2025

With Php 5 billion of OPAPRU’s total budget allocated for PAMANA infrastructure projects, there has been a notable increase in the number of proposed projects, jumping from 124 for the current year to 260 for 2025.

PAMANA projects that are in the pipeline for next year will cover 15 regions, 47 provinces, and 120 municipalities across the country.

Of the 260 projects lined up for 2025, a majority of them are road development, agricultural productivity support, water systems, community-level infrastructure projects, electrification, social protection, educational subsidies and sustainable livelihood programs.

In the meantime, 99 projects will be carried out under the GPH-MILF Peace Process; 58 under the GPH-MNLF Peace Agreement; 40 for CPP/NPA/NDF-affected areas and under Localized Peace Engagements; and 63 for the completion of agreements with the RPM-P/RPA/ABB and CBA-CPLA.

These projects shall be primarily implemented in OPAPRU Target Peace and Development Communities that have been lagging behind in terms of economic development.

Aside from the Php7 billion proposed budget, OPAPRU also requested an additional Php3 billion to boost the construction of PAMANA projects, particularly in areas that are in need of more peace investments, such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Sulu, CARAGA, CAR, Bicol, Samar Provinces and other regions affected by conflicts.

Five-point Peace Agenda

The implementation of the Comprehensive Philippine Peace Process is under the Marcos administration’s “Five-Point Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity Agenda” which highlights 1) Completion of peace agreements with the MILF and MNLF towards healing and reconciliation in the Bangsamoro; 2) Ending of armed conflict with the CPP-NPA-NDF and local armed groups by expanding the transformation programs for local conflict peace process and forging political settlement; 3) Completion and sustainment of the gains of the signed peace agreements with the RPM-P/ RPA/ABB and CBA-CPLA; 4) Enhancement of the resilience for peace of communities and vulnerable groups through social healing and peacebuilding approaches in support of the peace processes; and 5) Enhancement of the delivery of Conflict-Sensitive and Peace-Promoting (CSPP)-compliant interventions in addressing the root causes and drivers of conflict through convergence and complementation in support of the peace processes.

According to Galvez, the OPAPRU is guided by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s directive to pursue a principled and peaceful resolution to all internal armed conflicts in the country “with neither blame nor surrender, but with dignity for all.”

“The approval of the peace budget is a significant milestone in our journey towards a more just, peaceful, and equitable society,” Galvez emphasized. ###