Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The decommissioning of weapons by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) need not be included in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) submitted by Malacañang to Congress on Wednesday, the government panel said on Friday.
In a statement, chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the “decommissioning of (MILF) forces and weapons is a program that will be implemented jointly with the MILF, simultaneous with legislating the new law on the Bangsamoro.”
“It doesn’t have to be put in (BBL),” Ferrer said in the statement released by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs (Opapp).
Gradual phaseout
But Ferrer said the full decommissioning of the weapons and combatants of the MILF would happen after the creation of the Bangsamoro and its own police force.
“The process would be gradual and phased, and commensurate with the developments in the legislative process of passing the BBL,” Ferrer said.
As a party to the Normalization Annex of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the MILF is obliged to ensure that the decommissioning of their weapons and fighters will be implemented, Ferrer said.
“The MILF signed this document and so they are obligated to see this through with the help of the government and the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) that we will set up very soon,” Ferrer said.
The Inquirer learned from sources that the two peace panels would head to Kuala Lumpur next week for further discussions on the normalization aspect of the peace agreement.
The normalization annex of the CAB, the blueprint for the proposed Bangsamoro Law, recognizes that the decades long war in Mindanao had disrupted thousands of lives and set back their economic development individually and collectively as a region.
As the name of the annex suggests, it aims to normalize disrupted lives by first decommissioning the weapons.
“The CAB and the BBL aim to establish genuine autonomy in the south that respects the diversity of the people in the area, the basic rights of all, and ensure collective security and prosperity,” Ferrer said.
Foreign experts
The IDB will be comprised of three foreign experts and four Filipinos.
The Opapp said the decommissioning body will “validate the inventory of weapons and combatants that the MILF will submit and institute the needed procedures for turning in the weapons.”
Norway, Turkey and Brunei have been invited by the government and MILF panels to nominate the foreign experts who would sit in the IDB.
“High-powered and crew-served weapons will be turned in to the IDB. However, members of the MILF may legalize the small arms in their possession through a registration process that conforms with the national firearm law. There is no need for a special law for the decommissioning,” Ferrer said.
The government and the MILF also created committees, each with specific roles, to implement the normalization annex.
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