MILF gun turnover set in Jan.

From the Manila Standard Today (Dec 31): MILF gun turnover set in Jan.

Chairman Mohagher Iqbail of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will lead a “goodwill” symbolic turnover of firearms to the national government in January 2015.

“It’s almost systems go for the decommissioning of assorted serviceable MILF firearms to the government, initially totaling close to 100  high-powered and medium-powered firearms,” he said in a statement.

He said giving up arms “is one of the draft measures agreed upon by the Maguindanao-based MILF and the government in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed last March 27 which seeks to bring to a close 17 years of negotiations... to end a decades-old armed conflict in the southern area of Mindanao, the country’s second largest island region, while granting Muslim areas greater political autonomy.”

Iqbal said the process “will see the MILF turn over firearms to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and decommission its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces”.

He said a regional police force is expected to be responsible for public security while reducing the presence of military troops, and help disband private armies upon the passage of the Bangsamo Basic Law (BBL) to phase out the 25-year-old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and replace it with the proposed Bangsamoro political entity now under the scrutiny of Congress as presented by President Benigno Aquino III.

“This is a part of our ultimate sacrifice, to ensure peace and order in  conflict-stricken  Southern Philippines where many, including innocent civilians, have lost their lives,” Iqbal told media.

According to Teresita Quintos-Deles, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, a number of firearms will still remain in MILF possession but she has declined to elaborate.

Earlier talks noted that demmissioning is premised on 35 percent of MNLF  weapons after Congress passed the BBL and ratified by plebescite; 35 percent with the start of the Bansamoro police; and 30 percent before the signing of the Exit Agreement on condition that panels along with the Third Party Monitoring Team and Facilitator certify that the commitments have been satisfied.

Iqbal told the media that the MILF has formed its political party for the national polls in two years even as the Bangsamoro Transition Authority gets in place for a required period “after which all powers will then be transferred to the new Bangsamoro government whose officials will be selected by the region’s electors in 2016.”

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/12/31/milf-gun-turnover-set-in-jan-/