DAVAO CITY–Days after the bloody firefight in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao that killed 44 elite police commandos, the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Friday inked a 10-page implementing guideline in Kuala Lumpur for the decommissioning of weapons and combatants of the rebel group.
“Standing by their commitment to achieve the objectives of the normalization process, the parties finalized and signed the Protocol on the Implementation of the Terms of Reference of the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB),” both parties said in a joint statement.
And with the speculations and doubts over the sincerity of the MILF to the peace process after the Mamasapano incident, both parties agreed that it would strengthen coordination and joint efforts to clamp down on criminality and terrorism in Mindanao.
“In accordance with the statements made by (President Benigno Aquino III) and (MILF Chair Ebrahim Murad) in relation to this tragic incident, the parties reaffirmed their commitment to the attainment of peace that has long eluded Mindanao. In this vein, they resolved to strengthen their cooperation and coordination in addressing security concerns in the most effective and appropriate manner, and also in rebuilding trust and public confidence in the peace process,” the joint statement said.
The 10-page guideline was the fruit of a three-month deliberation between the parties involved and the IDB, which drew lessons from the experiences of Nepal, Northern Ireland and Aceh.
Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, in a statement, explained that the decommissioning will be done in a gradual and phased process wherein “four batches of MILF combatants and weapons will be processed and registered in six to twelve selected Assembly and Processing Areas (APAs).”
Ferrer added that the weapons collected from the MILF will be placed in secured containers in guarded storage areas until these are put permanently beyond use.
Under the guidelines, the decommissioning will be done in four phases wherein Phase 1 will be the ceremonial turning in of 75 high-powered weapons.
“By the time of the ratification of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, 30 percent of MILF weapons and combatants would have been decommissioned. Another 35 percent will follow under Phase 3 and the balance, under Phase 4,” the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) said.
The IDB will conduct the “inventory, verification and validation of the members, arms and weapons of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF),” the Opapp said.
The IDB will also “develop and implement the schedule of decommissioning of BIAF members; plan, design, and implement techniques and technologies for weapons collection or retrieval, transport, and storage and putting weapons beyond use in accordance with the agreements of the parties.”
“The IDB is also tasked to ensure that the parties comply with all the necessary steps and processes for decommissioning,” the Opapp said.
The IDB will be led by Ambassador Haydar Berk who formerly served as Turkish representative to the North Atlantic Council (NATO) and current advisor of Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Other members include Jan Erik Wilhemsen, a retired brigadier general from Norway who was part of the UN peacekeeping forces in Honduras, El Salavador, Central Sudan, Nigeria, and Nepal; Major Muhammad Aiman Syazwi Bin Haji Abdul Rahim of the Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF); and local experts, namely, retired Armed Forces of the Philippines Lieutenant General Rey Ardo, Dr. Mario Aguja, Von Al-Haq and Isah Bato.
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