An executive order paving the way for the decommissioning of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces and weapons, and the possible grant of amnesty or pardon for those involved in the armed conflict has been signed by President Duterte.
President Rodrigo Roa (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
In Executive Order No., 79, the government aims to implement “annex of normalization” under the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) with the MILF.
The new Inter-Cabinet Cluster Mechanism on Normalization (ICCMN) has been created to ensure the “timely, appropriate, and efficient delivery” of the normalization program that also calls for dismantling of private armed groups, implementation of socio-economic development efforts and transitional justice and reconciliation program, among others.
“The National Government recognizes that normalization is a process whereby communities can achieve their desired quality of life within a peaceful and deliberative society,” the order read.
“To this end, the Government adopts a Normalization Program that is multi-faceted and covers the aspects of security, socio-economic development, sustainable livelihood, political participation, confidence-building, and transitional justice and reconciliation,” it added.
Under the security aspect of the normalization program, the MILF forces and weapons will undergo a verification, validation and decommissioning process.
The decommissioning program will be conducted by the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) composed of three foreign experts and four local representatives agreed upon by the government and the MILF.
EO 79 allows the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to provide personnel to assist in the process when necessary and upon request of the IDB chair.
“The AFP and PNP, along with relevant government agencies, shall work with the normalization bodies in providing routes, convoy and area security during the conduct of the decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons,” the order read.
As part of the confidence-building measure, the President also created a technical working group “to study and recommend the amnesty or pardon and identify other available processes towards the resolution fo cases of persons charged with or convicted of crimes and offenses connected to the armed conflicts in Mindanao.” The group will be chaired by the Department of Justice and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP.)
In the EO 79, the normalization program will be implemented for the combatants and non-combatants of the MILF, families of decommissioned combatants and other vulnerable sectors living in the Bangsamoro region.
The program will cover six recognized MILF camps, namely Camp Bilal in Lanao del Note and Lanao del Sur, Camp Omar ibn al-Khattab in Maguindanao, Camp Rajamuda in North Cotabato and Maguindanao, Camp Busrah Somiorang in Lanao del Sur, Camp Badre in Maguindanao, and Camp Abubakar as Siddique in Maguindanao, and other locations of decommissioned combatants.
The new Cabinet cluster, co-chaired by representatives of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, will coordinate and mobilize government agencies in implementing the normalisation program, provide policy advice and support for its timely and smooth implementation, supervise socio-economic interventions, and submit periodic reports to the President.
The members of the Cabinet group include representatives from the National Security Council (NSC), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of National Defense (DND), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
Under the transitional component of the normalization program, DND and DILG will direct the military and police in coordination with the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF)-MILF to designate members to the Joint Peace and Security Teams (JPST). These teams, which will serve as the operational units of the transitional components of the normalization program, will be deployed in mutually-agreed areas.
During the transition period, the DND may provide special enlistment of BIAF-MILF members in the JPSTs for those who wish to join the military, the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), or a reserve geographical auxiliary unit in the Bangsamoro region.
EO 79 also calls for the disbandment of private armed groups in the Bangsamoro territory and the nearby Regions IX to XII as well as program for small arms and light weapons management.
The military will also be preparing a redeployment plan of its units from or within the BARMM as part of the normalization program. Unexploded ordnances and landmines detection and clearance as well as mine risk education will also be conducted.
On the socio-economic development aspect of the normalization program, government agencies have been directed to prioritize, intensify and accelerate development efforts for the rehabilitation, reconstruction and development of teh Bangsamoro region. They must also addresss the needs of the BIAF members, internally displaced persons, and poverty-stricken communities as part of the normalization process.
“These programs shall be community-based and shall reinforce social cohesion, and strengthen and preserve the unit of the communities,” the order read.
A comprehensive and integrated development plan must also be crafted by the Joint Task Forces on Camps Transformation to transform the six MILF camps into “peaceful and productive communities.”
The President has also directed the ICCMN to implement the recommendations given by the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission “to address legitimate grievances of the people in the Bangsamoro region, correct historical injustices, and address human rights violations and marginalisation through dispossession, towards healing and reconciliation.”
A Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Program will be adopted and implemented for the region.
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