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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Member of Parliament (MP) and Bangsamoro Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal presented Sunday, March 5, the GPH-MILF Peace Process Updates during the First National Shari’ah Summit in this city.
GPH-MILF refers to the Government of the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which negotiated for peace starting in January 1997 held in this Mindanao city during the term of then President Fidel V. Ramos.
After over 17 years of protracted negotiations sidetracked many times by major and minor fighting, the two parties signed on March 14, 2014, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). Among the major parts of the CAB is the Normalization Track, which covers the decommissioning of MILF weapons and combatants.
The head of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), elaborated on the process of Normalization and the three phases of the 2014 peace agreement’s implementation: Political, Legal, and Constitutional Track.
The elements of the normalization are the following:
- 1. Creation of the Transitional Components of Normalization: Joint Normalization Committee (JNC), Joint Peace and Security Committee (JPSC), and Joint Peace and Security Teams (JPST).
- 2. Socioeconomic Development Program.
- 3. Confidence-Building Measures, such as Pardon and Amnesty, and specialized programs for the six (6) acknowledged camps of the MILF.
- 4. Decommissioning of MILF weapons and combatants.
- 5. Redeployment of Government troops in the Bangsamoro.
- 6. Policing in the Bangsamoro, or the creation of a Bangsamoro police.
- 7. Disbanding of Private Armed Groups.
- 8. Transitional Justice and Reconciliation program.
The MILF Peace Implementing Panel and other mechanisms for peace are expected to face challenges in implementing the agreements. However, the MILF and GPH are optimistic in achieving the goals, and in addressing the needs, ideals and inspiration of the Bangsamoro People, he added.
In January 2018 the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) established the Bangsamoro region, abolishing and replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). BARMM then became a new political entity (NPE) which today is being governed in a transition phase by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).
The Bangsamoro region is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao (now split as Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte), Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the 63 barangays or villages dubbed Special Geographic Area (SGA) that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas the BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao del Norte; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur. — EKU/MBHTE (✓)