MILF: P100K Goodwill Cash, livelihood will be given to each decommissioned MILF fighter

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Website (Apr 28, 2019): P100K Goodwill Cash, livelihood will be given to each decommissioned MILF fighter

Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao—Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Thursday that the government will need P1.2 billion as “goodwill” cash aid to some 12,000 combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who will be decommissioned as part of the normalization process in areas under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

In a report posted online by Mindanao Inquirer, Galvez said that each decommissioned MILF fighter would be receiving P100,000 in cash once the foreign-led Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) had validated their identities.

Galvez also told the Inquirer in a text message that, “There is no provision in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro [CAB] that surrendered firearms will be remunerated but as a goodwill of the government … the immediate cash of P25,000 and initial livelihood cash support of P75,000 will be given [to each decommissioned MILF member].”

He said the fund would be sourced from the 2019 budget of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, now known as Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity or OPAPRU.

Scholarships and skills training would also be provided to the decommissioned MILF fighters and their families to help them become competitive and productive members of mainstream society, Galvez added.

Under the Annex on Normalization of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the decommissioning of MILF fighters and the surrender of their weapons were spelled out by phase but subject to the conditions set forth in the peace agreement.

The peace agreement provides for a political track, which was completed with the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the creation of the BARMM; and the normalization track, which includes the dismantling of private armed groups, as well as the transformation of several MILF camps into “progressive and resilient communities,” the Mindanao Inquirer report said.

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1788/p100k-goodwill-cash--livelihood-will-be-given-to-each-decommissioned-milf-fighter