Ex-MILF fighters finish skills training in Maguindanao

From the Philippine News Agency (May 28, 2022): Ex-MILF fighters finish skills training in Maguindanao (By Lade Jean Kabagani)

TRAINED. Decommissioned Moro Islamic Liberation Front combatants receive training support allowance from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education-Technical Education and Skills Development in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao in this undated photo. Aside from skills training, they also received financial aid. (Photo courtesy of OPAPRU)

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), committed to transforming former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants into productive citizens, reported on Saturday the completion of the Technical-Vocational Education Training (TVET) program for 235 decommissioned fighters in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao.

Under the normalization track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (BARMM) Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education-Technical Education and Skills Development provided the graduates with training support fund for transportation and other expenses incurred during the livelihood training.

The TVET training courses are on Bread and Pastry Production at the Technical Vocational Institute Datu Ibrahim Paglas Memorial College, Electrical Installation and Maintenance at Goldtown Technological Institute, Inc., Dressmaking at Buluan Technical Educational School of Life, Plant Crops (Leading to Agricultural Crop Production) at Eastern Kutawato Islamic Institute and Shielded Metal Arc Welding at Maguindanao Institute of Technology and Learning Center, Inc.

The CAB consolidates and affirms the understanding and commitment between the government and MILF to push for conducive peace initiatives.

“The training package furthers the promotion of the peace apparatus and strengthens its mechanism that would support the former MILF members through skills education,” OPAPRU chief Secretary Carlito Galvez said in a previous interview.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) 79 in April 2019, for the implementation of the Annex on Normalization under the CAB, bringing together at least 17 government agencies to work on the normalization track for decommissioned MILF combatants.

The CAB, signed by the government and MILF in 2014, has two tracks.

The first track is normalization which primarily involves the decommissioning of combatants and the transformation of six MILF camps into peaceful and resilient communities while the political track includes the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the establishment of BARMM.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1175348