It is not true that 40,000 combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will be decommissioned in the fourth and final phase, contrary to a statement by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Governors’ Caucus (BGC).
The statement, which was quoted in a Manila Standard opinion article on October 9 as well as in other news reports, said in part:
“Presently, the third phase of decommissioning, which involved 26,145 MILF combatants and 4,625 weapons, has been completed. However, the fourth and final phase still aims to decommission the remaining 40,000 combatants and 7,000 firearms.”
The same paragraph in the BGC statement was also quoted in an article published on Politiko last October 5.
The normalization phase of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) involves the decommissioning of 40,000 MILF fighters, as key milestones are achieved. The CAB was agreed by the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF in 2014 after 17 years of peace negotiations.
As of August 10, 2023, a total of 26,1(45) MILF combatants and 4,625 of their firearms have been successfully decommissioned since 2015 by the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB), which is tasked to implement the decommissioning process, Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a news article published on the OPAPRU website on October 12.
The IDB is made up of representatives from the Republic of Türkiye, the Kingdom of Norway, together with funding donor countries from the Embassy of Australia, Japan, and Germany and Brunei Darussalam, as well as local experts and representatives from the GPH and the MILF.
“In the next two years, there are 14,000 or 35% of the total who will be decommissioned,” Galvez said in an article posted on gmanetwork.com on July 27.
The claim of the BGC that 26,145 MILF combatants have been completed all under Phase 3 is also false, as that figure includes Phases 1, 2 and 3.
Phase 1 of the process took place on June 16, 2015 with the ceremonial turnover of 55 high-powered and 20 crew-served weapons, and the decommissioning of 145 members of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.
In Phase 2, 30% or 12,000 MILF combatants have been decommissioned, including at least 2,100 assorted weapons and over 500 ammunitions.
Phase 3 was completed last August, involving 14,000 or 35% of the MILF combatants.
The BGC statement claimed that the decommissioning lacks “a detailed plan, milestones, and timelines for addressing these normalization aspects, (which) is a significant concern.” It added that the “non-dismantling of MILF base camps has eroded community trust in the decommissioning process and the overall peace process.”
The implementation of the decommissioning process of the MILF forces is guided by the roadmap of the CAB, specifically in the Annex on Normalization, which is agreed by the GPH and the MILF, Galvez explained.
Under the roadmap, the MILF shall undergo a graduated and gradual decommissioning in four (4) phases by percentage: ceremonial in Phase 1, 30% in Phase 2, 35% in Phase 3, and the remaining MILF forces in Phase 4.
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MindaNews is a verified signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
