GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 01 August) – The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) has expressed dismay over the decision of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to suspend the decommissioning of its remaining 14,000 combatants and 2,450 weapons. David Diciano, head of OPAPRU’s Office for Bangsamoro Transformation, belied that the Philippine government (GPH) has not substantially delivered on its socioeconomic commitments to MILF fighters who have been deactivated. The decommissioning of MILF forces is a major commitment made by the government and the MILF under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), contained under the normalization track. The CAB is the final peace agreement signed by the GPH and the MILF after 17 years of peace negotiations. While the CAB was signed in 2014, the GPH and MILF Peace Implementing Panels only approved the Socioeconomic Package Framework for the MILF decommissioned combatants in February 2024, Diciano said in a statement on Thursday, July 31, noting that “major socioeconomic interventions have been implemented since 2015.” “The 26,145 MILF combatants decommissioned since 2015 and the six MILF camps acknowledged in the CAB are recipients of ongoing socioeconomic programs not only from the OPAPRU but through a whole-of-nation approach provided by the Inter-Cabinet Cluster Mechanism on Normalization (ICCMN) agencies,” he said. These programs include the P100,000 transitional cash assistance provided to each combatant upon decommissioning, he said. Diciano said the government has also invested an estimated P4 billion since 2019 for other socioeconomic support for the decommissioned MILF combatants. To date, all decommissioned combatants have been enrolled in PhilHealth; more than 60% have been provided with civil registration; and over 30% have undergone skills training and received emergency employment, he added. OPAPRU launched last year an educational assistance program for MILF decommissioned combatants, granting P50,000 per school year to a deactivated MILF member or their next of kin who are enrolled in college. For this year, 2,500 individuals are benefiting from the program, Diciano said. He claimed that “many MILF combatants have expressed their eagerness to be decommissioned,” seeing the benefits enjoyed by those already deactivated. Diciano said the MILF has “repeatedly delayed the final phase of the decommissioning process since 2022.” “This (was) despite the goodwill of the National Government, which has allocated substantial funds in the amount of P488 million for the Phase 4 decommissioning since 2023, only to be returned to the national treasury as required by government financial regulations in 2024,” he said. In its regular meeting last July 19 at Camp Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao del Norte, the MILF Central Committee decided not to proceed with the final phase of decommissioning. “It is hereby resolved that the decommissioning of the remaining 14,000 MILF combatants and 2,450 weapons shall commence only upon the substantial compliance of the GPH in the other tracks of normalization, including the provision of socio-economic package as agreed upon by the GPH and MILF Peace Implementing Panels to the 26,145 combatants,” the resolution, signed by MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, stated. Diciano assailed the decision of the MILF Central Committee “as unfair and unjust for those who are willing to undergo the decommissioning process, depriving them of their opportunity and right to be transformed into productive, peaceful citizens as envisioned in the CAB.” “The decision of the few should not deny the aspirations of the many,” he said. Diciano called on the MILF to utilize the appropriate channels, such as the Peace Implementing Panels and the Intergovernmental Relations Body, to address issues concerning the implementation of the peace agreement. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
