MILF-BIAF decommissioning resumes

GUN FIRING GONE --- Shown are inventoried weapons of the 106 decommissioned MILF-BIAF combatants from Lanao del Sur. (PHOTO SUPPLIED, MINDANAO EXPOSE')

THE resumption of the Phase II Decommissioning of Moro Islamic Liberation Front - Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) combatants and weapons resumed last  February 18 at the Old Provincial Capitol, Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao.

A total of 106 MILF-BIAF combatants from Lanao del Sur underwent the decommissioning process led by the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB).

The IDB was created by the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to oversee the decommissioning process of the MILF combatants and weapons.

Each of the former combatants received P100,000 cash and a socio-economic assistance package. Their families will also get an estimated worth of P500,000 up to P1-million of healthcare assistance, scholarship for their children, housing, and livelihood projects from the government.

        Aminudin Casubidan Makawadib, 47, a resident of Lumbatan in Lanao del Sur province, was one of the decommissioned combatants.

He said the money he received will be a big help for him and his family.

“Iyong makukuha namin na pera galing sa gobyerno ay ilalaan namin sa aming mga planong negosyo doon sa lugar namin […] Maraming salamat sa ating gobyerno,” he said.

 Executive Secretary Abdulraof Macacua of the Bangsamoro Autonjomous Region in Muslim Mindanao thanked the Bangsamoro government’s partners from the national government for being consistent in ensuring that the peace process is right on track.

        Macacua also expressed his gratitude to the combatants: “As always, we are grateful to our brethren in the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces who are in solidarity with us all throughout the peace process.”

“Truly, our combatants are the ones who are experiencing the biggest change during this transition process and we are forever committed to make sure that the direction of this transition phase is inspired by their sacrifices along with maximizing all our resources in making sure that they can find a life outside the field and eventually become a new faces of progress in Mindanao,” he added.

Undersecretary David Diciano, chair of the Government of the Philippines Peace Implementing Pannel and head of the Joint Normalization Division, said that after the decommissioning, the national office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development  will hire social workers to evaluate the status of the combatants in their respective communities.

“The Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority will work together with the Joint Task Force Camp Transformation to develop the six majors camps,” Diciano also said.

February 18’s decommissioning was part of the 30 percent of the 40,000 MILF-BIAF members to be decommissioned until March 2020. (BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION - BARMM, MINDANAO EXPOSE')