Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-D9R
COTABATO CITY — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. leads the graduation ceremony of the first batch of Moro combatants who successfully completed the Bangsamoro Police Basic Recruit Course (BPBRC) at Camp Salipada K. Pendatun in the Municipality of Parang, Maguindanao del Norte, on April 29, 2024.
The graduating class of BPBRC Batch 2023-01 Classes Alpha-Bravo ‘BAKAS-LIPI’, which stands for ‘Bangsamorong Kapulisan, Sandigan ng Lipunang Pilipino,’ consists of 100 trainees evenly divided between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) with 92 men and eight women.
These former Moro combatants underwent a rigorous 23-week program that prepared them to carry out the crucial duties of the police force, with a primary focus on enforcing national laws and the specific regulations within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The integration of the Moro combatants into the national police force is part of the provisions provided by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the Charter of the BARMM. Also mandated by organic law is the waiving of age, height and education attainment requirements to facilitate the entry of MILF and MNLF members into the police force.
While the new graduates will temporarily be appointed as patrolmen and patrolwomen in accordance with the decree of the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM), they have up to 15 years from their date of entry into service to obtain a college degree. This requirement aligns with the educational standards set by the Philippine National Police (PNP) for them to become permanent members of the police force.
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction. With the recent plebiscite at SGA, the BARMM now has eight new municipalities as residents voted “Yes”.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities (plus eight newly established under the SGA: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur. (✓)