133 former MILF combatants complete skills, entrepreneurship trainings

From the Philippine Information Agency (Apr 19): 133 former  MILF combatants   complete  skills, entrepreneurship trainings

Some 133  former fighters of the  Moro Islamic  Liberation  Front  have completed  training  programs  intended to  boost their  entrepreneurial skills.

These  former combatants, according to a  report  from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)  are among the  decommissioned  MILF members  who have decided to  undergo trainings  that  would enhance their  capability  for  economic  progress .

The  OPAPP report noted that the training of former combatants  is part of the implementation of the agreement under the Terms of Reference of the Normalization Annex of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the peace deal signed between the government and the MILF on May 27, 2014.

On June 16 last year, 145 former MILF combatants underwent the initial decommissioning process in Sultan Kudarat  town in Maguindanao with the ceremonial turnover of 51 high-powered and 24 crew-serve weapons of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

These decommissioned combatants underwent a registration, verification, and validation process and were provided with socio-economic packages to assist them in their transformation to peaceful civilian lives.

Out of the 145 decommissioned combatants, 133 decided to undergo different sets of skills training programs that were conducted by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) as part of the socio-economic track of the normalization process.

Said skills trainings include bread and pastry production, driving, carpentry, cookery, motorcycle/small engine repair, dressmaking, tailoring, automotive servicing, electrical installation and maintenance, and entrepreneurial skills training.

Former combatants also underwent trainings on values transformation and remedial classes on reading, writing and numeracy.

The Department of Education and  the Department of Educations  provided  cash-for-training assistance to the scholars.

“With the assistance of the TESDA, DepEd and the DSWD and other government agencies, the decommissioned combatants are now accomplishing their respective trainings to prepare them towards transformation to unarmed civilians,” said GPH peace panel chair Prof. Miriam-Coronel Ferrer.

Ferrer said that the active participation of the former combatants in the entire training and in the normalization process “shows their sincerity in peace-building and in concretely transforming from an armed group into peaceful, civilian lives.”

Despite the non-passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), “we are still pushing for these activities for the government remains committed to what have been agreed upon in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” she  said

“Even though the proposed BBL was not passed by the 16th Congress, the gains achieved in the Bangsamoro peace process throughout the decades have been tremendous. There is solid basis for the people of the Bangsamoro to remain hopeful and continue looking forward toward a better, peaceful future," she added.

 Meanwhile, Hadzer Birowa, director of the socio-economic unit  of OPAPP  emphasized  the skills and entrepreneurial training program offers great opportunities for the decommissioned combatants.

The skills the  scholar-trainees  learned, along with the livelihood packages that they will receive upon the completion of the entire training program, is envisioned to prepare them for sustainable livelihood when they fully transform from being combatants and mainstreamed into civilian communities, he said.

For Abdulaziz Andik, one of the  graduating decommissioned former combatants,  the  training is  a rare  opportunity  to  improve his  and his family’s lives.

“The training is very useful to us because this is for my children and a good source of livelihood in our area. We thank those people who were very patient in teaching us, who may have found it hard to teach us because we are already old, but we are trying our best to understand and follow their instructions because we want to gain knowledge and it is also for the benefit of our families,” he said.

Andik devoted 39 years of  his life as  an MILF combatant.  He chose to undergo skills training in  carpentry.

Another trainee, Hadji Usman Akmad, was already 73  when he enrolled in  dressmaking/tailoring  course to help in his daughter’s  small  tailoring business.

Akmad said  he  became a member of the Ansarul Islam in 1971, then joined the Black Shirts, and for 39 years, was part of the Moro National Liberation Front.

“I feel happy because I do not anymore  live in the mountains. I can now go to Cotabato City without any trouble because I am now a civilian,” he said. (DEDoguiles-PIA 12 with report from  OPAPP)

http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1611461039734/133-former-milf-combatants-complete-skills-entrepreneurship-trainings