Murad stressed that the illicit firearms bear the markings of the Department of National Defense to prove his point.
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) interim chief minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim on Wednesday revealed that the “main source” of loose firearms in Mindanao is the Philippine military itself.
In a television interview, Murad stressed that the illicit firearms bear the markings of the Department of National Defense (DND) to prove his point.
“Most of the firearms are still coming from the armory of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Murad said. “I think that’s the main source because now we do not see any firearms or weapons coming outside. Maybe before, during the early 1970s, there are firearm purchases outside of the country, but today it is no longer happening.”
Murad, who is also the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the military should “be strict in the control of (its) firearms.”
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To recall, the MILF began decommissioning combatants and firearms, with more than a thousand guerrillas handing over their 940 weapons to authorities. Murad noted that around 7,000 weapons owned by the MILF and 10,000 personally owned by the combatants will be decommissioned.
He added that former combatants will receive aid packages worth some P1 million, which includes P100,000 cash, housing projects and livelihood training, among others.
“We need to ensure also that there is security in the area because people desire to have weapons because… sometimes they feel it is survival to have their weapon,” said Murad, adding that the region will have three justice systems–civil code, Shariah Law, and Indigenous Peoples — in order to address conflicts in the area.
Murad also said that he met with President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday night to discuss the region’s intergovernmental relations mechanism with the national government as the region also asked for a supplementary budget of P21 billion for the remaining months this year, as it had been using the budget of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
