Gov’t creates task force to disband private armies in Mindanao

Malacanang has activated a national task force that would disband private armed groups (PAGs) to "stabilize the security situation" in the envisioned Bangsamoro territory and four other adjacent regions.

Memorandum Circular No. 83 signed on September 2 creates the National Task Force for the Disbandment of the Private Armed Groups (NTF-DPAGs) as part of the normalization process in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

The memorandum also states that the disbanding of PAGs will lead to the effective implementation of the gradual and phased decommissioning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is also under the Annex on Normalization.

According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the normalization process has not been included in the original draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) because it is part of the mandate of the executive branch.

In his substitute bill, however, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos included normalization as a provision of the BBL. The bill is still up for plenary discussion in the Senate.

The task force will be chaired by the secretary of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) along with representatives from the Departments of National Defense, and Justice, among others.

It shall cease to operate upon the signing of the exit agreement by the negotiating panels of the government and the MILF, or when the NTF-DPAGs determines that the PAGs are already dismantled, whichever comes earlier. —Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/KBK, GMA News