Gov’t to probe ‘cuts’ in cash aid for ex-MILF fighters

Carlito Galvez Jr. —SENATE PRIB

COTABATO CITY—The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity is initiating an investigation into allegations that Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders are getting “cuts” from the P100,000 cash assistance for every decommissioned combatant, even as it considered the incident as “isolated.”

The scheme was revealed during Tuesday’s hearing by the Senate committee on national defense, security, peace, reconciliation and unity chaired by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, on the delays of the decommissioning of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the MILF’s armed wing.

Estrada revealed that he had received complaints from some former Moro combatants on the supposed corruption.

Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. called the incident “isolated” and said in a statement: “This government shall not tolerate any act of corruption or irregular transactions, moreso those that undermine the well-being of our MILF brothers and sisters.”

“Rest assured that this isolated incident will be thoroughly investigated, and will be brought to the attention of the MILF leadership,” he added.

The complainants were urged to submit their affidavits in order to formalize their allegations.

“If we have 26,000 combatants who are willing to surrender, that’s P1.3 billion that won’t be received by the rebel returnees, but will instead go to their commanders. Maybe we need to investigate this,” Estrada said during the hearing.

Mohajirin Ali, secretariat head of the MILF’s peace implementing panel, said in the same hearing that the erstwhile rebel group’s leadership would never tolerate such unlawful acts.

Bangsamoro Parliament Deputy Speaker Lanang Ali had said that both the government and MILF peace panels are targeting full decommissioning of the BIAF’s 40,000 regular force by 2025 “so that they can be clothed as legal personalities to participate in the 2025 elections.”

READ: MILF leaders accused of taking ‘cuts’ from ex-Moro rebels’ cash aid

To date, 26,132 former BIAF fighters and 4,625 firearms had been decommissioned, in a process overseen by the Turkiye-led Independent Decommissioning Body with security experts nominated by Norway, Brunei, the Philippine government and the MILF as members.

Prior to Estrada’s concerns, the government and MILF peace panels issued a joint statement to refute allegations by Sen. Raffy Tulfo of irregularities in the normalization process.

“Contrary to baseless allegations on corruption, especially in the decommissioning, the Government-MILF Peace Implementing Panels assured the public that proper mechanisms and procedures are in place to guarantee accountability, and trust and confidence in the process,” read the joint statement signed by government panel chair Cesar Yano and MILF panel chair Mohagher Iqbal.