Over 5,000 MILF combatants decommissioned this year –OPAPP

Over 5,000 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants have been decommissioned this year as part of the peace process in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the government said Tuesday.

According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), 5,250 MILF combatants have been decommissioned during the first part of the third phase of the decommissioning process this year that concluded on December 17.

"We will continue what we have signed – our commitment to the government that we will end the suffering of the Bangsamoro,” Saida Silongan, member of parliament of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) and minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of BARMM, said in a statement.

“We will continue peace and development in the Bangsamoro so that nothing will happen that will be a problem for our country. We will support all government programs related to peace."

Silongan called on the MILF members to continue supporting the decommissioning process and remain patient as the country is facing challenges brought by COVID-19 pandemic.

The OPAPP said of the total 14,000 MILF combatants who are scheduled to be decommissioned under the third phase, 5,250 of them were decommissioned this year. The rest will undergo the process in 2022.

The decommissioning process of MILF combatants is among the integral part of the normalization track process under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) forged between the government and MILF in 2014.

It aims to help former combatants transform into peaceful and productive citizens. —Richa Noriega/KBK, GMA News