Protocol on MILF disarmament expected to be signed Friday

MANILA, Philippines - The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday and are expected to sign the protocol on the decommissioning of the group's arms and forces.

Government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said Wednesday that both sides will discuss the plans for the first batch of MILF weapons to be turned in to the International Decommissioning Body (IDB).

The peace panels are expected to sign the implementing guidelines drafted and recommended by the IDB.

"Ang signatories dito sa protocol implementing guidelines (ay) yung panel chairs, ang chair ng IDB at tsaka yung facilitator ng Malaysia," Colonel-Ferrer said in a statement.

The decommissioning of MILF fighters and weapons are among the provisions of the peace deal or the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro that the two sides signed in March 2014.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal had said that they are ready to undergo the decommissioning process and set to turnover an initial 75 high-powered firearms and crew-served weapons in a symbolic ceremony that would take place in the soonest possible time.

The scheduled meeting came amid doubts over the implementation of the Bangsamoro peace process following the armed engagement between members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) and MILF fighters in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province on Sunday.

The so-called "misencounter" killed more than 40 police commandos who were on a mission to capture Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomber Malaysian Zulkipli bin Hir alias Marwan and his Filipino cohort Basit Usman.