The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has successfully conducted re-engagement activities dubbed ‘Kamustahan’ validation and assessment for 1,400 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) decommissioned combatants (DCs) in Davao Region, a senior agency official reported on Monday (21 October).

Organized by the office of Inclusive-Sustainable Peace and Special Concerns (ISPSC) Undersecretary Alan Tanjusay, the re-engagement activities were carried out from October 7 to 11 through house-to-house visits to monitor the status of the DCs in their reintegration into their respective communities and families.

"These re-engagement activities are conducted to ensure those who were given the Php100,000 transitory cash assistance are given post-activity care services. These include the needs assessment of decommissioned combatants," Tanjusay pointed out.

Around 120 social workers and project development officers from the DSWD Field Office 12-SOCCKSARGEN conducted the re-engagement activities in Davao Oriental, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao City.

With the recently concluded reengagement activities, the DSWD has so far supported the reengagement of 12,000 DCs. They are among the 26,145 who have been decommissioned from the three phases of the decommissioning process that took place in June 2015, from August 2019 to July 2024, and from November 2021 to July 2024.

Tanjusay said the DSWD is prepared to assist the new list of DCs in the fourth and final phase of the government's decommissioning initiative as required by the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the government and the MILF.

“We can see that our peace-building initiatives are taking effect, as pronounced by our re-engagement activities in the Davao region. With this, we are more than thrilled to help out more DCs as we await the fourth and final phase of decommissioning,” Tanjusay said.

Under the CAB’s Normalization Track, MILF combatants shall undergo the process of decommissioning by the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB). Once decommissioned, the combatants are then turned over to the DSWD for the payout of the cash assistance and case management. 

The same process awaits the fourth and final phase of the decommissioning, which targets an estimated 14,000 MILF combatants.