COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 27 Feb)—While four provincial governors of the Bangsamoro region are calling to hasten the full decommissioning of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before the conduct of barangay elections on October 30, the MILF leadership who now runs the autonomous region has in turn urged politicians to dismantle their private armies.
Ahod Balawag “Murad” Ebrahim, the chairman of the MILF and now the chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said he has no problem to fast-track the process of decommissioning.
But he stressed that this effort should coincide with the eradication of private armies of the politicians, which he said “bolster tension in the region.”
Governors Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu of Maguindanao del Sur, Abdusakur Tan of Sulu, Hadjiman Hataman-Salliman of Basilan, and Yshmael Sali of Tawi-Tawi sent an “urgent appeal” to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the immediate decommissioning of MILF forces and the postponement of the barangay elections until the decommissioning is fully implemented.
They said that the presence of MILF base commands is the reason for the “climate of lawlessness” in the region.
“In these areas, LGUs (local government units), PNP (Philippine National Police) and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) are severely restrained from enforcing law and order by the ‘peace process mechanisms’ that bar entry of law enforcement agencies in the so-called ‘MILF territories’,” the appeal said.
They mentioned the case of the 39 Special Forces soldiers who were held overnight by the MILF earlier this month in Maguing, Lanao del Sur “on the pretext that their movement and operations were not coordinated with the MILF” and the ambush of Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., also in the same municipality, on Feb. 17 as among the reasons for their request to hasten the decommissioning of the MILF forces.
Mohagher Iqbal, Peace Implementing Panel Chair of the MILF, commented that “the irony of all is that the MILF has engaged in decommissioning and we have no doubt that we will undergo on this part of the agreement. It is our commitment. But how about those private armed groups, including the firearms of the politicians? So what will happen now that they have firearms and we don’t have?”
Iqbal noted that among the eight deliverables in the peace agreement between the government and the MILF, as mentioned in the Annex on Normalization of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is the disbandment of private armed groups, which will be undertaken by both parties and the Joint Normalization Committee (JNC).
“Well, it is not very bad at all because even if it is in the nature that we are in the spotlight, but it gives us the opportunity to discuss this again in accordance with the agreement of the parties,” Iqbal stressed.
But Iqbal said he has uncertainties with two of the governors who signed the appeal to the President.
“I doubt into the real intention of some governors, but I presume that Governors Jim Hataman[-Salliman] and Gov. [Yshmael] Mang Sali, they have good intentions at least,” he said.
Iqbal responded into the details of the appeal that there was “climate of lawlessness” in BARMM areas where MILF base commands are located.
“Those who ambushed Gov. Adiong, the suspects are drug groups and the ISIS groups. We have no quarrel with him and we cannot do that to him either. They cannot conclude that we are part of it, that is fallacious argument,” Iqbal explained.
He pointed out that in the last elections in Maguindanao, their party, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), sustained the most casualties.
Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, BARMM Minister of the Interior and Local Government, earlier pointed out that there has been “no conclusive studies … on the correlation of violence and the existence of MILF base commands. Instead, there is conclusive evidence of a downtrend in violence since the signing of the CAB and the establishment of the BARMM. If you compare the peace and order condition in the region now as against the years ’70s, 2000, 2003 or 2008, there’s tremendous change.”
“In the past elections, it was never the MILF that caused violence in elections. It has always been the goons of politicians,” said Sinarimbo, a member of the MILF technical working group during the peace talks with the government.
Iqbal emphasized that decommissioning has a process to follow and “depends on the delivery of commitments of both sides.”
A total of 40,000 MILF members are being targeted for decommissioning.
In the website of the Office of Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), it was posted on September 27, 2022 that a total of 14,000 combatants are targeted to be decommissioned in the Phase 3 of the decommissioning process.
Since the start of decommissioning in 2015, a total of 19,345 MILF combatants have successfully undergone the process, while 2,175 weapons were put beyond use.
The first phase of decommissioning was held in 2015 wherein 145 MILF members and 75 of their weapons were decommissioned.
The second phase was held in 2019, wherein 12,000 were decommissioned, along with 2,100 weapons.
The decommissioning process is being handled by the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB), which was created by the GPH and MILF negotiating panels as part of the Annex on Normalization of the CAB.
It is composed of representatives from the Governments of Turkey, Norway, Kingdom of Brunei, as well as local experts nominated by the GPH and MILF peace panels. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
Related story: 4 BARMM governors ask Palace to hasten decommissioning of MILF
