Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao—Muslim rebels in the mainly Catholic Philippines began handing over their guns to independent foreign monitors Saturday, as part of a peace treaty aimed at ending a decades-long separatist insurgency that has left about 150,000 people dead.
RETIRING RITES. Rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front board a bus before heading to weapons decommissioning ceremony at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat Saturday. AFPJust over a thousand guerrillas are turning in 940 weapons in a single day, in a graduated decommissioning process that aims to turn the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest rebel force, into a regular political party.
The fighters demobilized on Saturday represent a symbolic first step toward retiring what MILF says is a force of 40,000 fighters in the coming years.
“The war is over... I have no firearms left,” Paisal Abdullah Bagundang, 56, a self-described veteran of more than 100 firefights with government security forces since the 1970s, told AFP.
But the disarmament will take time to make an impact in a place where violence is an almost daily threat.
But Hadji Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the MILF and now chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said ‘We have not given up; decommissioning is not tantamount to surrender”—as the process of decommissioning armed dissidents began.
Ebrahim said decommissioning, as provided in both the Bangsamoro Organic Law (Republic Act 11054) and in an annex of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), “does not mean that we have given up what we have been fighting for.”
Instead, Murad said, “We are working with the government to achieve our goals of peace, development, and progress.”
Murad said a total 1,060 would be initially decommissioned out of 11,000 combatants, currently being validated by the Independent Decommissioning Body.
A total of189 RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) anti-armored personnel carrier launchers were turned over to the IDB in ceremonies witnessed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte said his “administration is investing on peace, for without peace there can be no real progress to look forward to in these areas.”
“We are fulfilling government promises; the promises made by the previous administrations, and the new promises committed under my administration,” the Chief Executive said.
Secretary Carlito Galvez of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPPRU) said the Duterte administration had the firm commitment to support and help Moro communities attain progress.
Galvez said the government and the MILF, as well as the peace stakeholders, were “celebrating another milestone in the peace process.''
This, Galvez said, is the return to the mainstream society of combatants from the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) which will pave the way for the transformation of their lives, their families and their communities.
Normalization package
On Friday, Galvez and Director-General Isidro Lapena of the Technical Skills Development Authority signed a Memorandum of Agreement for OPAPP and Tesda to “jointly undertake skills training and development for the decommissioned combatant, and members of their families and communities to help them transform into being productive members of the mainstream society.”
Ariel Hernandez, co-chairman of the Joint Philippine Government-MILF Committees on the Normalization, lauded Tesda for committing substantial funding resources in support of the decommissioning programs.
Each combatant will receive P100,000 in cash, and packages of assistance consisting of health programs for their families, education scholarship slots for them or their children, and modest livelihood projects.
Galvez was optimistic the decommissioned combatants or members of their families could reap the fruits of human development, as potential bets to pool of human resources that investors from Japan would be needing in the near future.
“It is the President’s desire to give these communities a chance to become a showcase of peace and transformation,” Galvez pointed out.
Murad said the Philippine government and the MILF had identified seven decommissioning processing areas for IDB, and these are the five government-recognized MILF camps in Central Mindanao, one in Davao del Sur, and one in Basilan.
The peace panels of the Government of the Philippines and the MILF peace have jointly created an IDB to oversee the process of decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons.
IDB forms key part of the normalization structure. The IDB is composed of foreign experts from Turkey, Norway, and Brunei, representatives from the two parties and National Staff.
Turkey Ambassador to the Philippines Fatih Ulusoy, IDB chairman, said firearms turned over to the body will be stored and “put beyond use.”
The Turkish envoy said the IDB commends the Philippines and MILF panels “for reaching another milestone in the peace process” and that working on “weapons collection, retrieval and storage” formed part of its “unwavering commitment to serve both parties, with full adherence to confidentiality, impartiality, and integrity.”
The other IDB members are: William Hovland of Norway, vice-chairman, normalization international expert Lt. Col. Sherpor Nezam bin Abdul Ghapor of Brunei, and local experts. Jack Abas; Jannati Mimbantas, both MILF representatives; and Prof. Mario Aguja and Lt Gen Rey Ardo, government representatives.
A bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded near a public market in Isulan town early on Saturday, just hours before President Duterte was to witness the decommissioning ceremony some 40 kilometers away in Sultan Kudarat.
Police said eight people were injured in the attack by unknown suspects.
The decommissioning process “should not lead to expectations that it is going to result in a major deceleration in attacks,” said Francisco Lara, senior conflict adviser for Asia at watchdog group International Alert, noting that the general public in the region are also armed.
Officials hope putting rebel weapons “beyond use” will nudge the region away from the mindset that gun-ownership is essential to ensuring survival.
About a third of MILF combatants and their weapons are to be retired in the first phase of the decommissioning process.
“In order to have an enduring peace, we have to change the mindset of the people,” Duterte peace adviser Carlito Galvez told reporters Friday.
“The war is over... I have no firearms left,” Paisal Abdullah Bagundang, 56, a self-described veteran of more than 100 firefights with government security forces since the 1970s, told AFP.
But the disarmament will take time to make an impact in a place where violence is an almost daily threat.
But Hadji Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the MILF and now chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said ‘We have not given up; decommissioning is not tantamount to surrender”—as the process of decommissioning armed dissidents began.
Ebrahim said decommissioning, as provided in both the Bangsamoro Organic Law (Republic Act 11054) and in an annex of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), “does not mean that we have given up what we have been fighting for.”
Instead, Murad said, “We are working with the government to achieve our goals of peace, development, and progress.”
Murad said a total 1,060 would be initially decommissioned out of 11,000 combatants, currently being validated by the Independent Decommissioning Body.
A total of189 RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) anti-armored personnel carrier launchers were turned over to the IDB in ceremonies witnessed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte said his “administration is investing on peace, for without peace there can be no real progress to look forward to in these areas.”
“We are fulfilling government promises; the promises made by the previous administrations, and the new promises committed under my administration,” the Chief Executive said.
Secretary Carlito Galvez of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPPRU) said the Duterte administration had the firm commitment to support and help Moro communities attain progress.
Galvez said the government and the MILF, as well as the peace stakeholders, were “celebrating another milestone in the peace process.''
This, Galvez said, is the return to the mainstream society of combatants from the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) which will pave the way for the transformation of their lives, their families and their communities.
Normalization package
On Friday, Galvez and Director-General Isidro Lapena of the Technical Skills Development Authority signed a Memorandum of Agreement for OPAPP and Tesda to “jointly undertake skills training and development for the decommissioned combatant, and members of their families and communities to help them transform into being productive members of the mainstream society.”
Ariel Hernandez, co-chairman of the Joint Philippine Government-MILF Committees on the Normalization, lauded Tesda for committing substantial funding resources in support of the decommissioning programs.
Each combatant will receive P100,000 in cash, and packages of assistance consisting of health programs for their families, education scholarship slots for them or their children, and modest livelihood projects.
Galvez was optimistic the decommissioned combatants or members of their families could reap the fruits of human development, as potential bets to pool of human resources that investors from Japan would be needing in the near future.
“It is the President’s desire to give these communities a chance to become a showcase of peace and transformation,” Galvez pointed out.
Murad said the Philippine government and the MILF had identified seven decommissioning processing areas for IDB, and these are the five government-recognized MILF camps in Central Mindanao, one in Davao del Sur, and one in Basilan.
The peace panels of the Government of the Philippines and the MILF peace have jointly created an IDB to oversee the process of decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons.
IDB forms key part of the normalization structure. The IDB is composed of foreign experts from Turkey, Norway, and Brunei, representatives from the two parties and National Staff.
Turkey Ambassador to the Philippines Fatih Ulusoy, IDB chairman, said firearms turned over to the body will be stored and “put beyond use.”
The Turkish envoy said the IDB commends the Philippines and MILF panels “for reaching another milestone in the peace process” and that working on “weapons collection, retrieval and storage” formed part of its “unwavering commitment to serve both parties, with full adherence to confidentiality, impartiality, and integrity.”
The other IDB members are: William Hovland of Norway, vice-chairman, normalization international expert Lt. Col. Sherpor Nezam bin Abdul Ghapor of Brunei, and local experts. Jack Abas; Jannati Mimbantas, both MILF representatives; and Prof. Mario Aguja and Lt Gen Rey Ardo, government representatives.
A bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded near a public market in Isulan town early on Saturday, just hours before President Duterte was to witness the decommissioning ceremony some 40 kilometers away in Sultan Kudarat.
Police said eight people were injured in the attack by unknown suspects.
The decommissioning process “should not lead to expectations that it is going to result in a major deceleration in attacks,” said Francisco Lara, senior conflict adviser for Asia at watchdog group International Alert, noting that the general public in the region are also armed.
Officials hope putting rebel weapons “beyond use” will nudge the region away from the mindset that gun-ownership is essential to ensuring survival.
About a third of MILF combatants and their weapons are to be retired in the first phase of the decommissioning process.
“In order to have an enduring peace, we have to change the mindset of the people,” Duterte peace adviser Carlito Galvez told reporters Friday.
RETIRING RITES. Others fritter away time and anxiety, some wondering what the future would be hence. AFPEach retired fighter will receive a million pesos (about $19,000) worth of cash, scholarships, health insurance, and training to become productive civilians. With AFP
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