MILF making ‘ultimate sacrifice’

Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. AP FILE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY—Amid uncertainties in the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will push through with the decommissioning of its forces starting on June 16, a senior rebel official said.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said while the rebel group regarded the decommissioning process, which it had agreed to under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, as “very difficult,” it manifested the MILF’s commitment to “undertake the ultimate sacrifice” in the name of peace.

“This also shows that contrary to fears, the MILF had no intention of returning to war even if our version of the BBL failed to pass,” Iqbal said, adding that the option for the MILF remained to be negotiations for the peaceful resolution of the Moro rebellion.

Government chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer earlier said the MILF has agreed to push through with the first phase of the decommissioning process on June 16.

She said phase one of the process will begin with the ceremonial turnover of a total of 75 weapons and the decommissioning of 145 members of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.

During the ceremonies, MILF firearms will be turned over to the Independent Decommissioning Body, while decommissioned combatants will undergo a registration, verification and validation process after which they would receive P25,000 and Phil Health Insurance cards.

Ferrer said President Aquino would be the main guest during the decommissioning ceremony. The government peace panel, which Ferrer heads, is also inviting legislators as guests.

Teresita Quintos-Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, said the decommissioning process is unprecedented.

“We’ve never had an armed organization that has been fighting the government voluntarily turn over weapons,” Deles said.

When the Moro National Liberation Front signed a peace agreement in 1996, its forces were never disarmed.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman, of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said for centuries, the Moro people had strived for self-determination and that members of both chambers of Congress should see the need to establish a Bangsamoro government in the nature of real autonomy.

“Just how the Filipinos fought to assert the cost of freedom, the Moro people feel the same way,” said Hataman on Thursday.

The challenge, Hataman said, to contemporary Muslims is to fight the sense of “mistrust” by proving trustworthiness. Jeoffrey Maitem and Nash Maulana, Inquirer Mindanao with Jaymee Gamil in Manila