CAMP BILAL, Munai, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews / 2 May) – Many former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) now have legal names, instead of just noms de guerre and aliases, after they were included in a government program for them to acquire legal identities.
Many of them came here Thursday last week (April 27) to enlist in the last leg of the Access to Legal Identity and Social Services for Decommissioned Combatants (ALIAS-DC) project.
Secretary Isidro L. Purisima, Acting Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, said Camp Bilal was the last of six MILF acknowledged camps in the Maguindanao and Lanao provinces visited for the ALIAS-DC project.
The project, he said, aims to resolve legal identity issues facing the ex-fighters and facilitate their applications for acquiring certificates of live birth. He said it is part of the social protection program for decommissioned MILF combatants that “aims to help them establish their legal identity, and consequently, facilitate their return to mainstream society.”
“Because of this, they will have the capacity to do legal transactions with the different agencies of the government and to avail of socio-economic assistance such as PhilHealth coverage, scholarship grants and many others,” he said.
According to MILF commander and now Member of the Parliament Abdullah Macapaar (more popularly known as “Commander Bravo”), now that his MILF comrades can acquire their certificates of live birth, they can already live “normal and productive lives as members of civil society afterward.”
The project is being implemented by the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment Through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS) Program, and funded by the European Union, Australian Embassy in the Philippines, Japan, and The Asia Foundation.
ALIAS-DC is among the commitments made by the Government of the Philippines (GPH) under the normalization track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
The GPH, through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU), and the MILF are providing oversight to the civil registration project via the Task Force for Decommissioned Combatants and their Communities (TFDCC) in coordination with the Joint Task Forces on Camps Transformation.
In particular, the GPH and MILF, through the TFDCC, provide overall direction to the interventions being carried out under ALIAS-DC.
Ten months after the project’s launching, Purisima said IDEALS was able to accommodate 35,665 civil registration applications. So far, the project has issued 1,156 birth certificates.
Purisima is optimistic that with the continuing peacebuilding initiatives being provided to the MILF members, they will develop a “reformed and renewed mindset” as they fully reintegrate into mainstream society.
Jennifer Bennett, Second Secretary for Peace and Stability of the Australian Embassy in the Philippines, said that as she nears the end of her tour of duty in the country, she is “honored to be an envoy of Australia’s contribution to the peace process.”
Bennett gave the assurance that Australia is fully committed to supporting the national and Bangsamoro governments in sustaining and building on the gains of the peace process.
Among those who registered last Thursday was Elias Haji Bayabao, 68.
Bayabao, whose words were translated by his wife Aida, said that he had been moving from one place to another all his life because government soldiers were running after them. He had been in Baloi in Lanao del Norte, then to Madalum in Lanao del Sur, and a few other places in the Lanao provinces. He was finally able to stay for long in this municipality in the safety of Camp Bilal.
He said they could not avail of help from the government—not even benefits for senior citizens—because he did not have a birth certificate.
Now he is hopeful.
Aminah Abdullah, 25, who is married to a decommissioned combatant with three children, said that she is looking forward to eventually finding employment opportunities now that she has taken the first step of registering her birth. She said has already applied for her national ID, and given a temporary ID for now with the help of ALIAS-DC. (Marivic Omandam Davis / MindaNews)
