MILF prepared to give up weapons

MANILA - Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are prepared to give up their weapons ''in exchange for peace and the settlement of the centuries-old conflict in Mindanao.''

In an editorial posted by the MILF on its website luwaran.com, the group said it is showing its sincerity in the peace process by agreeing to the decommissioning of its firearms.

MILF members said decommissioning is “a very emotional and sensitive issue” for them.

“The MILF is staking itself to the scrutiny of time and history and the vicious attacks of critics to prove that this is the right track to solve this question,” it said.

The MILF said the decommissioning of firearms would be done in four phases.

The first phase is what the MILF described as “goodwill” symbolic decommissioning of 75 firearms by yearend.

The second phase would involve the decommissioning of 30 percent of its weapons upon the passage of the BBL in Congress and upon its ratification in a plebiscite, the MILF said.

The BBL will implement the final peace agreement signed by the government and the MILF last March. The measure has been certified urgent by President Aquino and is expected to be discussed by lawmakers when they resume session this month.

The MILF said another 35 percent of the firearms would be decommissioned upon the establishment of the Bangsamoro Police.

The remaining 30 percent of the MILF weapons would be decommissioned two months before the signing of the Exit Agreement provided that the peace panels, third party monitoring team and facilitator certify that all commitments have been completed.

Under the normalization annex of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the MILF will undertake a graduated program for decommissioning of its forces so that they are put beyond use.

The decommissioning includes activities that would ensure a smooth transition of the MILF forces towards a productive life.

Critics believe MILF forces should be required to surrender their firearms once the Bangsamoro region that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is formed. They pointed out that it is hard to talk peace with an armed group.

The MILF said decommissioning is “simply not surrender of firearms nor of their destruction.”

“They are not given or surrendered to the government. It is not disarming the MILF per se, as some uninformed media people would like to say,” the group said.

The MILF will continue to keep its firearms even after the passage of the BBL.

“Most likely, the models in Northern Ireland and Nepal will be followed whereby firearms turned over are put in warehouses under the care and protection of third party decommissioning body composed of international and domestic eminent persons,” it added.