COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 18 October) – A budget orientation involving local executives from the newly-created municipalities in the Bangsamoro region was abruptly disrupted Thursday morning, October 17, after National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents barged into their hotel venue in General Santos City.
The incident raised concern on the normalization process of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), as some of the attendees were former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who were appointed to various local positions, according to some participants of the event.
The CAB was signed by the Philippine government and the MILF in 2014 after 17 years of negotiations. Its Annex on Normalization provides for the decommissioning and amnesty for MILF combatants for their transition to mainstream society.
The budget orientation was attended by several former MILF combatants from the BARMM’s Special Geographic Area (SGA) who have joined the government, while others have filed their certificates of candidacies for the May 2025 elections.
Abusaima Hussain, appointed councilor of Pahamudin municipality, expressed deep concern over the incident.
He pointed out that many of the SGA officials were former commanders who had availed themselves of the government’s amnesty program and were now actively participating in the peace-building process.
The SGA refers to 63 villages from six towns in North Cotabato that voted inclusion to the BARMM during the plebiscite in February 2019. During a plebiscite last April, eight municipalities were created in the SGA.
“It is disheartening to see that despite their efforts to contribute to the development of their communities, these former combatants are still being treated with suspicion,” Hussain said.
“We have an amnesty program now, why did they not ask the National Amnesty Commission if they were saying they are looking for suspicious persons? What we know is that most of the commanders with pending cases have applied for amnesty. Hopefully they (NBI) will cooperate in the context of the normalization process,” he added.
Nabalawag officer-in-charge (OIC) Mayor Anwar Salwang, who was also present during the orientation, echoed the sentiments of Abusaima.
He emphasized that the disruption caused “undue stress and fear among the participants.”
“We waited for them to go out before we decided to continue and resume our workshop,” Salwang said.
Brigadier General James Gulmatico, OIC director of the Police Regional Office-12, which is based in General Santos City, said the NBI operation was not coordinated with his office.
“I just learned later that they sought police assistance from personnel of the Gensan Police Station 4. The policemen were said to have secured the outside perimeter while the NBI agents were inside. I have no concrete details on the activity and I am still getting details about this operation,” he said in a phone interview.
BARMM government spokesperson Mohd Asnin Pendatun said the incident “has raised questions about the conduct of the law enforcement operation and its potential impact on the peace process in Mindanao.”
“It’s an unfortunate event because it has caused anxiety to our officials. They wanted to be clarified to what was really the intent of the operation because if this refers to the personalities who attended, they are covered by safe conduct passes under the normalization process,” Pendatun said.
He called for a thorough investigation of the matter and for authorities to respect the rights of former combatants who have chosen to embrace peace. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
