KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 04 July) – The BARMM Governors’ Caucus (BGC) on Tuesday sought anew the complete decommissioning of the 40,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), “for peace and prosperity to reign in the Bangsamoro region.”
The BGC is composed of governors Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr. of Lanao del Sur, Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu of Maguindanao del Sur, Abdusakur M. Tan of Sulu, Hadjiman S. Hataman-Salliman of Basilan and Yshmael “Mang” I. Sali of Tawi-Tawi.
The group made the appeal after meeting Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. in Manila on July 1 to discuss their peace and development initiatives in the Bangsamoro region.
Only Maguindanao del Norte Gov. Abdulraof Macacua, head of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the military wing of the MILF, is not part of the BGC.
In pushing for the full decommissioning of the MILF combatants, the BGC said they are hoping that the two Cabinet secretaries will “take into account their position and recommendations to promote peace and security” in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) leading up to the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, and the mid-term and the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary elections in May 2025.
In a statement, the governors, reaffirming their support for the Bangsamoro peace process, noted that the “genuine and meaningful decommissioning of the MILF faces several significant challenges.”
One major obstacle “is the lack of a reliable baseline data, which undermines the credibility of the decommissioning process and erodes trust among the involved parties,” the group said.
“(The) absence of a comprehensive list detailing the whereabouts of the alleged 40,000 “combatants,” their base commands, and whether they face criminal charges make it difficult to ensure proper execution of the decommissioning (process),” the statement said.
Citing reports, the BGC pointed out that “those who have been decommissioned so far may not be genuine MILF combatants” and that the dismantling of MILF base commands is progressing slowly.
The group recommended making the list of the 40,000 MILF combatants designated for decommissioning readily available for validation by concerned parties.
The Philippine government and the MILF have created the foreign-led Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) to oversee the process of decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons. It is a key component of the normalization structure in accordance with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which the parties signed in 2014 after 17 years of peace negotiations.
The IDB is chaired by Türkiye along with Norway and Brunei, and two representatives each from the Philippine government and the MILF.
Bangsamoro Minister on Interior and Local Government Naguib Sinarimbo, a member of the MILF technical working group during the peace negotiations, noted that the decommissioning of MILF forces is just one of the many aspects of the normalization track.
“This process is agreed between the government of the Philippines and the MILF and must proceed in parallel and commensurate to the implementation of the other aspects of the agreement, including the disbandment of private armed groups,” Sinarimbo, a lawyer, earlier told MindaNews.
According to the BGC, the presence of MILF base commands in certain areas “poses complications for law enforcement agencies and peace mechanisms, as they face challenges in maintaining law and order.”
“Attempts to serve warrants of arrest in these areas have resulted in armed encounters, with the MILF accusing government agents of operating without prior coordination. This situation raises suspicions of criminal elements being harbored in MILF camps or base commands, further complicating the overall decommissioning process,” their statement said.
Sinarimbo, also the Bangsamoro government spokesperson, said there has been “no conclusive studies post-CAB on the correlation of violence and the existence of MILF base commands.”
Instead, there is conclusive evidence of a downtrend in violence between MILF members and government forces since the signing of the CAB and the establishment of the BARMM, he added.
“In the past elections, it was never the MILF that caused violence in elections. It has always been the goons of the politicians,” he added.
Data from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) showed that at least 24,844 of the 40,000 strong MILF members have been deactivated as of April 2023.
At least 4,625 weapons and about 6,852 ammunition have also been decommissioned since the program started in 2015, it added.
The parties agreed to resume the decommissioning process of the remaining 1,300 combatants under Phase 3 in mid-2023. Phase 3 involves 14,000 combatants or 35 percent of the 40,000-strong MILF.
Phase 4 or the last phase also involves the deactivation of 14,000 MILF fighters, or the remaining 35 percent of the front’s forces.
OPAPRU had revealed that at least P3.15 billion have been poured by the government for the socio-economic aspect of the normalization phase. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
