HC Deb 16 February 1998 vol 306 cc464-5W
Dr. Tonge

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support the British Government are contributing to the land reform programme in the Philippines. [29118]

Clare Short

We are not making any direct contributions, but Christian Aid are using their block grant from my Department to part-fund a project to educate farmers in Cebu and Leyte of their legal rights under the Agrarian Reform Law and to establish People's Organisations capable of representing their interests. Similarly, Oxfam have been using their grant on a legal training project with indigenous peoples which includes issues of land and ancestral rights. The European Union is financing a 20 million ecu Agrarian Reform Support project.