It has finally happened. Peace and justice have finally come to the Bangasamoro. So says Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Implementing Panel Chair Mohagher Iqbal.
"If you ask us about our condition now, it's better than being a combatant. We now have peace, justice, and socioeconomic interventions from the government and the international community so Inshallah, we hope that the quality of our lives will improve most especially the MILF combatants," Iqbal said during a press briefing here on Tuesday (Feb. 18), as the second phase of the decommissioning process of MILF combatants officially resumed.
"Socioeconomic interventions from the government and the international community." Translation: "We are getting a lot of freebies from Manila and abroad." It's true though. The Philippine government has allotted billions each year for the BARMM. Already the government has given them P500 million for ARMM employees who are without a job since the forming of the BARMM.
Public servants in the Bangsamoro government to be separated from government service as part of the transition period phase-out program will soon get their separation pay, an official said Friday.
Executive Secretary Abdulraof Macacua of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has announced that national government has released about PHP500-million in gratuity funds for the purpose.
The fund will finance the separation pay of employees of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The BARMM phase out program affects more than 6,000 employees after they deemed to have lost their positions under the BARMM government.
The international community has again renewed their support for the BARMM pledging both economic and moral support to the region.
“Japan will never tire of lending a hand to the Mindanao peace process. We share with the Philippine government the dream of enduring peace and a better life for the Bangsamoro,” said Embassy of Japan Deputy Chief of Mission Yamamoto Yasushi.
Meanwhile, acting UN resident coordinator and UN Populations Fund (UNFPA) representative Iori Kato threw the organization’s support behind the Philippine government’s socio-economic and peacebuilding efforts.
“I’d like to hereby reiterate the commitment of the UN system in the Philippines that we shall continue to provide and support you in all our capacity, whether it’s for emergency response, development efforts or peacebuilding,” Kato said.
Over the years, the UN has played a critical role in the Philippines peace process through various programs and projects which include the Support to Peacebuilding and Normalization (SPAN) Program, Support to Post-Conflict Needs Assessment for Marawi City, UN Peacebuilding Fund, Facility for Advisory Support for Transition Capacity, UNFPA’s 8th Country Program of Support to the Philippines, and UN Women’s support to National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
Other economic partners of the BARMM include Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the US. The money will flow into the region but what will come of it remains
to be seen. The ARMM had lots of backers and support as well but ended up as a failure.
But the BARMM is not only getting economic investments from abroad. Foreign partners are also teaching these terrorists how to govern.
Members of the Parliament (MPs) of the Bangsamoro government are set to wrap up Monday a three-day training on parliamentary rules and procedures facilitated by a foreign agency in support of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) moral governance.
“The three-day activity also included MPs staff and personnel,” BARMM Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim said over a local radio station.
Experts provided by The Asia Foundation (TAF), through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), facilitated the activity held at the Bangsamoro parliament building in Cotabato City attended by members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA)— the interim body that governs the regional government.
"The sessions included discussions on the function and composition of the parliament, house rules, legislations, among others and attended by about 120 parliamentarians and MP support staff," Murad said.
MP Raby Angkal, BTA secretary-general, said the presenters included Dr. Muhammad Sayuti Hassan, a senior parliamentary lecturer from Sultan Idris Education University Malaysia, Muhammad Sujuri Abdullah, secretary of the senate Parliament of Malaysia, and Augustine Leonard Jen, Malaysian parliament research specialist.
Ebrahim lauded the Malaysian government for sending its experts in legislation and parliamentary procedures.
Did Murad and the MNLF get this kind of foreign training in governance when the ARMM was established?
Aside from all those freebies the government is also paying MILF terrorists to hand over their weapons.
A total of 106 MILF-BIAF combatants from Lanao del Sur underwent the decommissioning process led by the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB).
Each of the former combatants received P100,000 cash and a socio-economic assistance package. Their families will also get an estimated worth of P500,000 up to P1-million of healthcare assistance, scholarships for their children, housing, and livelihood projects from the government.
That is a lot of economic assistance from the government. Too bad law abiding folks will never see such a boon. If you think the weapons are going to be destroyed then think again.
Today, the camp, which has been transformed into a government military facility, will serve as repository of MILF weapons which are being “put beyond use” as part of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) that the government and the MILF signed in 2014.
Already, the barracks of a Joint Peace and Security Team (JPST) had been built in the area, now known as the Philippine military’s Camp Iranun.
Brig. Gen. Francisco Ariel Felicidario III, cochair of the newly installed Joint Peace and Security Committee (JPSC), said the JPST barracks in Camp Abubakar would be the first of 11 JPSC barracks to be built in seven provinces across Mindanao.
He said the facility would serve as headquarters of the first JPST team tasked to safeguard weapons turned over by members of the MILF who have undergone the process of decommissioning.
The firearms will be kept under the oversight of the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB), a Turkish-led group mandated to oversee the decommissioning of MILF combatants and their weapons. IDB is composed of representatives from the governments of Turkey, Norway, Kingdom of Brunei, and local experts nominated by the Philippine government and the MILF.
“The decommissioned weapons you will be securing in this camp (Abubakar) represent decades of armed struggle of the Bangsamoro people. And now that (these firearms) have been put to rest, these will serve as reminder to all of us of the sacrifices made by our Moro brothers and sisters to uplift the lives of their people,” Diciano told JPST members.
Why not just totally destroy the weapons like they did with all the weapons recovered from Marawi? In fact that was his first order to the AFP Chief Año once the siege ended.
Months later
Duterte even watched while they were destroyed. Could it be that the hasty destruction of weapons recovered from Marawi was because they had AFP markings?
Most weapons recovered from slain militants belonging to the Maute group and its allies or from areas they had vacated in this Lanao del Sur provincial capital bore marks which indicated that these came from the government, a military spokesperson said.
“It only meant that somebody from the government sold it to them,” said Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, spokesperson for the Joint Task Force Marawi.
Petinglay, however, did not say how many of these recovered firearms had been confirmed to have come from the government armoury.
The military has recovered at least 628 firearms—among these high-powered weapons like Barrett .50 caliber sniper’s rifles and Armalite, Garand and M14 rifles—since fighting began in late May when Islamic State-inspired militants took over sections of Marawi.
According to Petinglay, finding out who are responsible for the delivery of the firearms to the Maute group and its allies is not the military’s priority, noting that the investigation can be conducted after the fighting here ends.
“It’s easy to track where (the firearms) came from (based on the markings). But it’s not our priority right now. Once the fighting is over, we will commence our investigation,” she said.
Turns out an investigation never ensued because the weapons were set for destruction. Just more questions about the Marawi siege which will never be answered because the Senate refuses to launch a 9/11 Commission style investigation.
Elsewhere things are same as ever. The government continues to bribe rebels to surrender.
The Army's 602nd Infantry Brigade (602nd IBde) has launched a program to help former Moro rebels integrate better into mainstream society.
Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong, commander of the 602nd IBde based in Carmen, North Cotabato, said the Returnee Comprehensive Aftercare Program (RCAP) launched Sunday aims to provide livelihood, healthcare and educational assistance to former combatants of Moro secessionist groups.
Capulong said RCAP is in line with the government's “whole-of-nation approach,” which seeks to institutionalize a holistic approach in addressing the insurgency problem at the local level.
He describes RCAP as a comprehensive program involving various government agencies working together to help locals "who were duped into joining a movement with a lost cause” but who have decided to return to the fold of the law.
Initially, Capulong said some 20 former members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have been identified as beneficiaries of the program.
During the program's launching, Capulong encouraged the former rebels to avail of RCAP's housing programs and other interventions.
“I see you before as brave men, but now you are braver than before because you succeeded in turning your back against terrorist groups,” Capulong said.
The Returnee Comprehensive Aftercare Program sounds like a permanent program to provide for ex-terrorists. But nothing is permanent. Some NPA rebels were recently given E-CLIP benefits but with a word of warning.
Sheryl Ann C. Disucatan, the Regional Social Welfare development Officer encouraged the FRs in her statement, “While there is life, there is hope. So, never lose hope and keep on believing that change and a better day for every one of you will surely come. Remember that taking up arms against each other will never be a good solution to any of our problems. Yes, the government is willing to help, but the government will not be there all the time for you, you need also to help yourself. Because the change and help that you are all seeking will primarily start from YOU, and the rest will just follow."
Lt. Col. Isagani O. Criste, Commanding Officer of 29IB, said he was grateful and happy to see how mindful the government is to its people especially in fulfilling its promise to help those former rebels who have once lost their way but have now found their way back. "This Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) of the government is truly a blessing to our brothers and sisters who are now willing to change for the better,” he said.
“And yes, the government is doing its best to help and support its people. But I hope you may realize also that not all the time will there be a government who will look after all of your needs, a government that could always provide you whatever you want in an instant. No, that doesn’t work that way because just like us, our government isn’t perfect. But you and I know that we can do something to support the government and more so can we do something to help ourselves,” Criste ended.
The government is willing to help you but won't be there all the time. Change starts with you. Government cannot always provide all your needs because government isn't perfect.
All of that is true and raises quit a few questions. What will happen if former rebels cannot build a good life despite all the government assistance? Will they return to the NPA? Can they be the change they want to see? Just how long will the government's bribery tide them over?
