Iqbal: MILF stands by peace process despite pact delays

COTABATO CITY – Despite delays in the implementation of the Bangsamoro peace process, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not return to armed conflict with the government, a senior official said.

Mohagher Iqbal, chairperson of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel, made the assurance while raising serious concerns over issues that continue to hamper the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

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“The MILF remains committed to the (Bangsamoro) peace process,” he reaffirmed in a recent forum.

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However, while stressing that the MILF would not initiate hostilities because of the setbacks in implementing the CAB, Iqbal said the group would defend itself if attacked.

The CAB, signed in 2014 during the Aquino administration after 17 years of peace negotiations, serves as the final peace agreement between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF.

The accord paved the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019 under the Duterte administration, following the ratification of Republic Act No. 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law.

Falling behind

Iqbal called on the international community and civil society organizations to continue performing their facilitative and monitoring roles as mandated by both parties, including the independent foreign-led Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT).

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In its ninth public report released last month, the TPMT said the normalization component of the CAB has fallen behind the political track.

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The normalization process includes the decommissioning of the MILF’s estimated 40,000 combatants, among other commitments. The political track’s most significant achievement, meanwhile, was the establishment of the Bangsamoro region seven years ago.

“Some 12 years after [the signing] of the CAB, we look at a mixed picture. There is reason for hope, but there is also lingering uncertainty,” the TPMT said in a statement

While normalization has progressed through three of its four phases, the provision of socioeconomic assistance to decommissioned combatants and the transformation of former MILF camps have not advanced at the same pace, the report noted.

Other key components of normalization—including recruitment into the police force, the redeployment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the dismantling of private armed groups and transitional justice mechanisms—remain in their initial or planning stages.

Iqbal attributed part of the delay to the absence of a chairperson for the GPH Peace Implementing Panel (GPH-PIP), which he described as a “structural defect.”

Former GPH-PIP chair and retired military general Cesar Yano resigned from the post in February.

Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento told reporters on the sidelines of a Bangsamoro stakeholders’ forum in Manila about two weeks ago that the vetting process for a new GPH-PIP chair is ongoing.

Although he did not identify any candidates, Sarmiento expressed hope that the selected individual would accept the position.

Halted engagements

In March, the MILF announced the suspension of all substantive peace process engagements under the CAB, citing the vacancy created by Yano’s resignation.

The group also halted the fourth and final phase of the decommissioning process involving its remaining 14,000 combatants until the government substantially complies with its commitments under the normalization track.

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So far, 26,145 MILF combatants—about 65 percent of the group’s estimated 40,000 fighters—have been decommissioned. /jpv