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OPAPP, DSWD allot aid package to ex-MILF combatants
SOCIOECONOMIC AID. Officials of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Department of Social Welfare and Development signed a memorandum of agreement in Taguig City on Aug. 9, 2019. The agreement, which aims to provide socioeconomic packages to the soon-to-be decommissioned Moro Islamic Liberation Front combatants, was signed by (L-R) DSWD Undersecretary for Disaster Response Management Group Felicisimo C. Budiongan; DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito D.
Bautista; OPAPP Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr; OPAPP Undersecretary Arnulfo Pajarillo (Photo courtesy of OPAPP via PNA)
TAGUIG CITY — The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) through which socioeconomic packages will be provided to soon-to-be decommissioned Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants.
The assistance package will be given under the Normalization Track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
“I would like to express the department’s full commitment to the implementation of the Bangsamoro transitory support package and its livelihood settlement grants,” said DSWD Secretary Joselito Rolando Bautista in his remarks during the MOA signing on Friday (Aug. 9, 2019).
“We assure you that the implementation of these programs for our [soon-to-be] decommissioned MILF combatants and their family members will be done with integrity and transparency,” Bautista added.
The MOA will focus on three objectives: (1) the adoption of conflict-sensitive and peace promoting approach in the implementation of socioeconomic assistance; (2) assistance to the decommissioned combatants’ transition to civilian life and its facilitation on the transformation of six acknowledged MILF camps into peaceful and productive communities; and (3) establishment and operationalization of institutional partnership and coordination mechanisms at the national and regional levels.
The socioeconomic aspect is part of the four main components of the Normalization Track of the CAB. The other three are security, confidence building measure, and transitional justice and reconciliation.
At the heart of the normalization process is the complete transformation of MILF combatants into peaceful and productive members of the communities. The MILF weapons will be put beyond use. They will also be equipped with livelihood skills and provided with livelihood support that will prepare them for reintegration to mainstream society.
Last week, 225 members of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) underwent basic military training to capacitate them as members of Joint Peace and Security Teams (JPST).
JPSTs are composed of members of the MILF-BIAF, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and Philippine National Police who will be tasked to ensure the security of residents within the six government-acknowledged MILF camps during the decommissioning process.
In his message during the event, Presidential Peace Adviser on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation Carlito G.
Galvez Jr. emphasized how the socioeconomic aspect of the normalization will help uplift the lives of the former combatants and their families.
“The socioeconomic aspect of the decommissioning process will bring the dividends of the peace agreements right into the very homes of these former combatants who have fought for the realization of the Bangsamoro people’s hopes and aspirations,” Galvez said.
For his part, Bangsamoro Minister for Budget and Finance Eduard Guerra expressed his confidence in the national government’s commitment to fully implement all agreements under the Bangsamoro peace process.
“This momentous event is a concrete manifestation of the support of the government to the ongoing normalization process,” Guerra said.
Based on the Normalization Track, 30 percent or 12,000 MILF combatants and their weapons will be decommissioned this year.
At least 35 percent will undergo the same process next year, while the remaining fighters will be decommissioned until 2022 in time for the signing of the Exit Agreement under the CAB.
