The government sees the decommissioning of firearms of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants and disarming private armies as crucial aftermaths in the normalization process of the ratified Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) assistant secretary for peace and security concerns Dickson Hermoso said that aside from decommissioning 40,000 MILF combatants, one of the tasks indicated in the Comprehensive Agreements of the Bangsamoro (CAB) is the disbarment of private armed groups.
Normalization, as stated under the CAB, is the process whereby communities can achieve their desired quality of life, including pursuit of sustainable livelihood and political participation within a peaceful deliberative society.
One of the normalization aspects under CAB are security, socio-economic development, confidence-building measures and transitional justice and reconciliation. Decommissioning falls under the confidence-building, wherein MILF rebels will transitionally surrender their firearms to the government and will be provided financial and livelihood aids as they return to their respective lives.
“Aside from the conflict between the government and the MILF and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the horizontal conflict is worse brought by the existing clan wars,” Hermoso said.
The OPAPP officer, who represented head peace advisor Carlito Galvez Jr. during the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) forum at the SM Lanang Foodcourt in Davao City, revealed that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has identified 72 private arm group in the country, 85 percent are in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
“This will have an impact into the peace process,” Hermoso said.
He also said that the another challenging part of the decommissioning is the profiling of the combatants, wherein the list submitted by the MILF will be determined by an independent commission, wherein their skills will be assessed.
“It will take a lot of dirty work, as the OPAPP is one of the agencies who looks into the profiling of these combatants,” Hermoso said.
He also said, “Their skills will be assessed as to what job will suits them.” Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) member Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan said that dismantling of armed groups will take time before it will be met.
“Dismantling armed groups cannot happen overnight. In the ARMM communities, most men would treat their guns better, rather than their wives,” Lidasan said.
He said that with the BOL, the future Bangsamoro generation would have a change of mindset over the usage of arms and conflict.
Lidasan also suggested that the existing armed groups in the ARMM can be utilized as Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU), who can be deployed in conflict rising areas.
