14,000 MILF fighters await decommissioning
Some 14,000 former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters are awaiting decommissioning, which prompted a Bangsamoro civic group to call President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to meet with MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim to advance the stalled peace process.
The group, AMANA BARMM on Monday said that a meeting between Marcos and Murad before the Bangsamoro Parliament opens on 30 Oct. could help move the peace process toward a final agreement and the completion of the fighters’ transition from armed struggle to civilian life.
Sultan Alim Saad Amate, the group’s convenor said, “Fifty years. Twenty months. One meeting.”
Murad, AMANA said, requested a meeting with Marcos in a letter dated 1 Oct. The group said no former MILF fighters had undergone decommissioning since July 2024.
The proposed meeting would bring together Marcos and the MILF chairman, whose organization is a partner of the government in the Bangsamoro peace agreement.
The meeting, AMANA said, could help complete a peace process that began with the signing of the Tripoli Agreement in 1976 under the administration of Marcos’ father, the late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
They a proposed exit agreement as the final step in the process, with the government and the MILF needing to agree on its terms.
“Father opened. Son can close,” Amate said.
The call comes amid changes in the Bangsamoro leadership following the 14 Sept. elections.
Marcos in March 2025, appointed Abdulraof Macacua, a former MILF chief of staff, as interim chief minister in place of Murad. Macacua now leads the Bangsamoro Federalist Party, while Murad remains chairman of the MILF.
“The seat moved. The command stayed,” Amate said, arguing that the leadership change had not ended the fighters’ allegiance to the MILF chairman.
Since the September elections, Marcos has met with Macacua and leaders of the Bangsamoro Grand Coalition, including Basilan Gov. Mujiv Hataman, former Sulu governor Sakur Tan, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal “Bombit” Adiong Jr. and Sulu Vice Gov. Abdusakur Tan.
The MILF, however, has yet to be received by the President, AMANA said, adding, “The table is set. One chair is empty.”
The group also endorsed the United Bangsamoro Justice Party’s proposal for a “rainbow coalition” government that would bring together the MILF, Moro National Liberation Front, other elected parties, Indigenous Peoples and settlers.
The party, founded by the MILF, won 30 seats in the September elections, including all six elected sectoral seats, according to the group.
“Many colors, one Bangsamoro,” said Maulana Mamutuk, AMANA’s co-convenor.
Mamutuk also cited a September Social Weather Stations survey showing that Marcos’ national net satisfaction rating fell to minus 11, while his rating in Mindanao remained positive.
“Mindanao moved first. Now, Malacañang,” he said.
Marcos was urged by AMANA to meet Murad before Parliament opens on 30 Oct., saying the meeting could help secure the final chapter of the peace process.
“Isang pulong. Isang pirma. Isang pamana,” Mamutuk said. (“One meeting. One signature. One legacy.”)