Disarmament hinges on MILF

From the Manila Standard Today (Dec 31): Disarmament hinges on MILF

The Aquino administration said the normalization process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will also result in the disarmament of other private armed groups in Mindanao. “You don’t just talk about the arms of the MILF, but also of everyone else. That is part of normalization,” presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said. “How can you ask the MILF to completely disarm if other groups or some families are armed? We are looking for a real partnership among the government, the MILF, and other governance constituencies to look at this matter on how to make a life more secure, to trust in the state forces to make them secure, and be engaged in other productive activities,” she said. Both parties would also work in partnership on the reduction and control of firearms in Mindanao, she said.

“As put in the framework agreement, decommissioning is phased and calibrated and will start once political commitments are delivered. We agreed that substantial decommissioning happens when the basic law is delivered,” she said. “The MILF shall undertake a graduated program for decommissioning of its forces so that they are put beyond use,” Deles added, citing the framework pact. A joint normalization committee will also be formed for the coordination between the parties towards full decommissioning, which will be overseen by a third-party monitor composed of domestic and international partners of the peace process.

The government and the MILF failed to meet the target set under the framework agreement of finishing all the annexes before the end of the year. Deles said the signing of the four annexes, instead of three as originally planned, will be pushed back to January at the latest. Deles said the annexes on power-sharing, wealth-sharing, normalization and transitional arrangements are all “moving forward.” According to the MILF, “the work on power-sharing is 95 percent settled; 60 percent on wealth-sharing; 99 percent on transitional arrangement; and 30 percent on normalization.” President Benigno Aquino III earlier said he wanted a new law creating the Bangsamoro to be enacted by 2015.

Mr. Aquino said an interim authority should already be in place by 2015, or a year before the next national elections. “We need the organic act enacted into law by 2015. This will be passed through Congress and approved in a plebiscite and we hope to install the new government with a mandate after 2016 elections. There will be an interim authority from 2015 to 2016,” Mr. Aquino said. The President acknowledged that spoilers of the peace process between the government and the MILF will remain, but he expressed optimism that they be a spent force by the time the Bangsamoro is put in place. “There will be some groups that will still want to maintain that nefarious habits but they will be more and more marginalized. They will no longer have their support bases,” he added.

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