Separatist rebels rest

The decommissioning was in line with the rebel group’s peace deal

The Muslim secessionist movement, which reached its apex shortly after the 1972 declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos, had symbolically ended yesterday with the disarmament of hundreds of Moro fighters and their weapons, ironically also under a military rule covering Mindanao.

The decommissioning ceremony was held yesterday as Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim stressed that disarmament does not mean members of the group are surrendering their cause.

In a statement, Ebrahim said the decommissioning was in line with the rebel group’s peace deal with the government that granted them greater autonomy in the restive south.

“I would like to emphasize that the decommissioning does not mean we have given up on what we used to fight for. It simply demonstrates our sincere and full commitment to fulfilling our obligations and responsibilities in the peace agreement we signed with the Philippine government,” Ebrahim, who now heads the interim Bangsamoro government, said.

“Let me reiterate that we are not surrendering. Decommissioning is not tantamount to surrendering,” he said.

Over a thousand MILF fighters and some 900 weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, would undergo the first batch of decommissioning in Maguindanao.

The process was overseen by an international decommissioning body (IDB), which is a key component of the normalization structure, in accordance with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

“IDB has guidelines and protocols to ensure that the decommissioning process will be conducted efficiently with utmost impartiality, integrity and confidentiality,” said IDB chairman Fatih Ulusoy said.

Ebrahim explained that decommissioned combatants will receive aid packages worth some P1 million. It will include P100,000 cash, housing projects and livelihood training.

“The decommissioning is our first step in achieving our goal to return our combatants to a productive civilian life,” he said, adding the MILF camps will also be turned into civilian communities.

“Through this intervention, our combatants will be able to return to mainstream society, from revolutionary forces to civilian life,” he noted.

More than 200 MILF and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters members in August completed their basic military training in the Philippine Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade in Cotabato Province, and they are now part of the joint peace and security team that helped secure the decommissioning event in Maguindanao.

Nearly eight months since the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) came to pass, Mr. Duterte commended Muslims and Moros and noted that no untoward incident has so far occurred in central Mindanao.

In his speech during the grand opening and inauguration of DusitD2 Hotel Davao and the Dusit Thani Grand Ballroom in Davao City late Friday, the President stressed that there has been less fighting now in Mindanao.

“We have been able to strike a solution in central Mindanao. There is less fighting now because of the BOL,” Duterte said. “And I’d like to congratulate my brother Muslims, Moros of Mindanao that there has been almost no incident here in the central Mindanao area.”

The BOL was ratified in January — which paved the way for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to be replaced by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which would have expanded land and water jurisdiction and fiscal autonomy, as well as an increased share in national government resources.

However, the President admitted that the New People’s Army (NPA) is still a problem.

“The NPA remains to be a big problem,” said Duterte, adding that he is hoping that the problem will be addressed before his term ends in 2022.

“Well, by the way, I just hope that we’d be able to do something about it before my term ends.”

The President had labeled the NPA as a spent force in June, noting that its five-decade old existence was “about to end.” He said then that the NPA no longer have guns, bullets, and even food.

Mr. Duterte encouraged his audience to consider the law and order of Mindanao and not to invest on the western side of Mindanao at this time.

“You have to consider the law and order of Mindanao. I do not recommend any new economic activity or investment on the western side, especially in the islands there. I do not think that it would be prudent for you to consider it,” he said.

Duterte instead encouraged investors to look “upwards towards the north, Visayas.”

“Maybe, in the fullness of God’s time, we’d be able to come up with something that’s a workable solution for all. But upwards, towards the north, Visayas would be a good place to just look at and think of the things that you can do or invest your money in those places,” he said.

The President also urged interested businessmen to talk to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, who was at the event, for tourism projects.

“So, I… You just talk to Berna. She knows my mind and the things that we consider, especially tourism when we offer a program for whatever connected with the business and investment,” said Duterte.