COTABATO CITY – The Peace Implementing Panels of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have designated Heino Marius, a German national, as the Chair of the Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT), a group that is tasked to oversee the implementation of the GPH-MILF peace agreement.
Marius took the place of Alistair MacDonald who unfortunately passed away in April last year, said Karen Tañada, a member of the TPMT, in a statement on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines congratulated Marius for having been designated as the new Chair of the TPMT.
“The European Union is pleased to note that the Peace Implementing Panels of the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have designated Heino Marius as Chair of the Third Party Monitoring Team”, said Mr. Thomas Wiersing, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, in another statement.
Tañada said Marius earned a master’s degree in economics from Hamburg University and a post-graduate degree in development economics from the German Development Institute Berlin.
“He started his career in Indonesia working on management and small enterprise development with the International Labour Organization. He joined the European Commission in 1993 and served in European Union (EU) Delegations in Ethiopia and India. Since 2000, he held various positions at EU headquarters in Brussels, covering external relations with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia. Mr. Marius retired from the services of the EU in February 2020,” Tañada said.
Launched in July of 2013, the TMPT has five members, two nominated by the GPH, two by the MILF, and a jointly nominated Chair. The current members of the TPMT are Karen Tañada of the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute, Rahib Kudto of the United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD), Huseyin Oruc of the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Sam Chittick of The Asia Foundation, and Marius, as the Chair. –Taher G. Solaiman/Newsline.ph-BARMM
