Only 3,000 rebels can be integrated to the Bangsamoro police force next year out of a list of 40,000.

This was bared by Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor Wednesday during a virtual hearing of the House Committee on Mindanao Affairs.

At the hearing, panel chairman and Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Khalid Dimaporo asked Mayor for an update on the normalization track of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which covers the recruitment of ex-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) into the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The PNP will oversee the eventual police force in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which the BOL created.

"The provision of the law is already there. It's a matter of the implementation of that particular provision of the law on how the MILF and MNLF will enter the Philippine National Police...the budget is already there," said Mayor, who was an invited resource person.

Asked how many ex-rebels the Philippine government (GRP) was expecting to convert into cops based on the available budget for next year, the OPAPP official said: "As per PNP info Mr. Chair, they have allocated for 3,000 recruits or applicants for that particular provision of the law for MILF, MNLF, as well as other applicants for the Bangsamoro police force."

Dimaporo, sounding a bit worried, replied: "We have an inventory of 40,000 combatants to be normalized. It might be more than 3,000 who want to join the police force. Or are you saying that that's the agreement between MILF and GRP?"

"There's no agreement actually as to the number...During our talks with the technical working group which included the PNP, DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) and Napolcom (National Police Commission), this is the initial number that they want to process," explained Mayor.

However, he said that the figure could increase based on how many recruits the PNP thinks it can accommodate.

"I'm sure you understand that even the DILG and PNP have budgetary constraints so they can't simply increase the number of 3,000 mid-next year," Dimaporo said.

The Mindanao lawmaker also noted that the original plan calls for the normalization phase to be finished in July 2021.

Dimaporo also said that the government managed to retrieve only 7,000 firearms from the 40,000 listed rebels.

Earlier, a resolution was filed in the Bangsamoro parliament asking Congress to extend the transition period of the expanded autonomous government up to the year 2025. The transition window is supposed to lapse in 2022, as stated in the BOL.