MILF children get ₱25,000 educational cash aid

MindaNews / 17 December — A total of 1,767 children of decommissioned fighters of the erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) each received ₱25,000, or a total of ₱44 million, for educational assistance.

Presidential Assistant David Diciano, head of OPAPRU’s Bangsamoro Transformation Office, said the Educational Assistance Program (EAP) aims to prepare the sons and daughters of former MILF fighters achieve a better and brighter future.

“We are very pleased with [the] huge turnout of EAP beneficiaries. This is a strong indication that our MILF brothers and sisters truly value the education of their children,” Diciano said in a statement.

“Through the EAP, the national government is sending a strong message that it is determined to fulfil all its commitments under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), particularly its socioeconomic component,” he noted. 

The Task Force for Decommissioned Combatants and their Communities (TFDCC) released the cash aid under the EAP last December 10 in Cotabato City, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation reported Tuesday.

The TFDCC is among the peace mechanisms of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and MILF, which is tasked to implement the Annex on Normalization of the CAB. The CAB is the final peace agreement signed by the GPH and MILF in 2014 after 17 years of negotiations.

The GPH-TFDCC — composed of OPAPRU, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other stakeholders — is helping decommissioned MILF combatants make the successful transition to peaceful and productive civilian life.

The ₱25,000 financial assistance will cover the beneficiaries’ matriculation and other school fees for one semester. Through the Peace and Development Buong Bansa Mapayapa, a DSWD program funded by OPAPRU, each beneficiary will receive ₱200,000 to pay for the four-year college courses they are enrolled in. 

For school year 2025–2026, the OPAPRU will fund the education of 6,050 students, of which the Mindanao State University (MSU) will manage 3,400 grantees while the DSWD will handle the remaining 2,650.

So far, a total of 26,145 MILF combatants had been decommissioned, or 65 percent of the 40,000-strong MILF forces.

In July, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF chair, said the front’s Central Committee decided to suspend the decommissioning of the remaining 35 percent or 14,000 combatants.

“It is hereby resolved that the decommissioning of the remaining 14,000 MILF combatants and 2,450 weapons shall commence only upon the substantial compliance of the GPH in the other tracks of normalization, including the provision of socio-economic package as agreed upon by the GPH and MILF Peace Implementing Panels to the 26,145 combatants,” the MILF resolution stated. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)