TPMT, MILF: Bangsamoro normalization still lagging behind political track

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 23 October) – The normalization phase in the Bangsamoro peace process is still behind the political track, the independent Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said, the latter attributing the delay to a dearth in funding from the national government.

Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim, MILF chair and interim Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said   implementation of the normalization track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) should have been parallel and complementary to the provisions of Republic Act 11054 or the Organic Law for the BARMM.

^{Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) who will be decommissioned arrive at the Old Capitol complex in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat on September 7, 2019, for the launch of the second phase of the decommissioning process. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO}

“However, normalization is very much lagging behind the political track (of the peace process),” Ebrahim told women journalists participating in the UNESCO-supported “Strengthening Visibility of Gender Reporting in the BARMM” on Thursday afternoon at the Bajau Hall of the Bangsamoro Government Complex here.

Heino Marius, chair of the TPMT, which the government and the MILF established to monitor the implementation of the peace agreement, said that even with the third phase of the decommissioning process, the socio-economic support for the deactivated combatants “is coming in a limited way.”

“We’re hoping more will be done for the socio-economic (aspect of normalization)… the camps transformation is not yet fully implemented,” Marius told the women journalists on Thursday at the Bangsamoro Museum. 

He said the granting of amnesty for MILF members, as provided for in the Annex of Normalization, has not been complied with, noting the National Amnesty Commission is yet to be constituted.

“Normalization comes rather slow, lagging behind the political track,” Marius said. 

Ebrahim said funding for the implementation of the normalization phase is from the national government. 

The normalization track provides for the decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons, the transformation of six recognized MILF camps into peaceful and productive economic zones, disbandment of private armed groups, granting of amnesty to MILF members, and the redeployment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from or within the Bangsamoro region, among others.

He, however, noted that the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity has been lobbying the different agencies of the national government to pour funds or projects aligned with the targets under the normalization phase.

Since funding for normalization is limited. Ebrahim said there were suggestions to use the region’s block grant but the block grant which is automatically appropriated in the General Appropriations Act and released directly to the Bangsamoro government, is used to run the Bangsamoro Government. 

Ebrahim said they could not use the block grant to fund the normalization aspect since the grant is being allocated to the various expenditure programs of the Bangsamoro government.

He stressed the delay in the completion of the different provisions of normalization might have a bearing in the signing of the Exit Agreement before June 30, 2025, the end of the extended transition period for the interim Bangsamoro government.

Ebrahim said the decommissioning of the 40,000-strong Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the armed wing of the MILF, is one of the significant aspects of the normalization process.

The decommissioning process is currently on its third phase, involving 14,000 combatants or 35 percent of the MILF-BIAF members.

The second phase was completed in March 2020, involving 12,000 individuals or 30 percent of the MILF combatants, but the promised socio-economic package of one million pesos for each of the decommissioned combatants has not been fulfilled by the national government.

During the deliberation for OPAPRU’s proposed 2022 budget in September 2021, Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the amount consists of P100,000 in immediate cash assistance, together with non-cash benefits such as study grants, skills training and social protection based on the result of the needs assessment conducted for each of the decommissioned combatants.

Ebrahim said the present Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the interim body governing the Bangsamoro region, has been focusing on the passage of the remaining priority codes stated under the Organic Law for the BARMM. 

These are the Local Governance Code, Electoral Code, Revenue Code and the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act.

The Administrative, Education and Civil Service Codes have been passed by the first BTA.  (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)