MILF ready to turn over firearms

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are prepared to give up their weapons “in exchange for peace and the settlement of the centuries-old conflict in Mindanao.”

In an editorial posted by the MILF on its website luwaran.com, the group said it is showing its sincerity in the peace process by agreeing to the decommissioning of its firearms.

MILF members said decommissioning is “a very emotional and sensitive issue” for them.

“The MILF is staking itself to the scrutiny of time and history and the vicious attacks of critics to prove that this is the right track to solve this question,” it said.

The MILF said the decommissioning of firearms would be done in four phases.

The first phase is what the MILF described as “goodwill” symbolic decommissioning of 75 firearms by yearend.

The second phase would involve the decommissioning of 30 percent of its weapons upon the passage of the BBL in Congress and upon its ratification in a plebiscite, the MILF said.

The BBL will implement the final peace agreement signed by the government and the MILF last March. The measure has been certified urgent by President Aquino and is expected to be discussed by lawmakers when they resume session this month.

The MILF said another 35 percent of the firearms would be decommissioned upon the establishment of the Bangsamoro Police.

The remaining 30 percent of the MILF weapons would be decommissioned two months before the signing of the Exit Agreement provided that the peace panels, third party monitoring team and facilitator certify that all commitments have been completed.

Under the normalization annex of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the MILF will undertake a graduated program for decommissioning of its forces so that they are put beyond use.

The decommissioning includes activities that would ensure a smooth transition of the MILF forces towards a productive life.

Critics believe MILF forces should be required to surrender their firearms once the Bangsamoro region that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is formed. They pointed out that it is hard to talk peace with an armed group.

The MILF said decommissioning is “simply not surrender of firearms nor of their destruction.”

“They are not given or surrendered to the government. It is not disarming the MILF per se, as some uninformed media people would like to say,” the group said.

The MILF will continue to keep its firearms even after the passage of the BBL.

“Most likely, the models in Northern Ireland and Nepal will be followed whereby firearms turned over are put in warehouses under the care and protection of third party decommissioning body composed of international and domestic eminent persons,” it added.

Concerns

Senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Teofisto Guingona III yesterday assured the public of raising the views and concerns of local stakeholders over the draft BBL before the Senate.

Marcos and Guingona, chairs of the Senate committees on local governments and on peace, reconciliation and reunification, respectively, presided over a panel for a consultation on the draft BBL at Notre Dame University in Cotabato City.

Among the issues raised by participants to the dialogue were the protection and right to separation benefits of thousands of career service personnel in the ARMM, whose offices can be deactivated once the draft BBL is enacted into law and ratified via a plebiscite.

Some sectors also raised political issues and land ownership concerns.

Most of the security problems in the ARMM and other Moro-dominated areas in surrounding administrative regions are rooted in territorial disputes and squabbles for ownership of lands involving Moro, Christian and indigenous hinterland groups.

Guingona said the draft BBL might possibly be enacted into law by the first quarter of 2015.

The draft BBL aims to establish a Bangsamoro government that would replace the ARMM based on the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) signed on March 27, 2014.

The CAB is the final peace accord between the government and the MILF.

Also tackled in the dialogue is the status of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in relation to the government’s peace agreement with the MILF.

The MNLF signed a peace pact with government on Sept. 2, 1996 through the efforts of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). – John Unson, Jess Diaz