DAVAO CITY – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has suspended the decommissioning of its remaining fighters until the government could substantially comply with the provisions of the Annex on Normalization.

In a resolution released by the MILF Central Committee dated July 19 made public on July 26, the MILF said that the decommissioning of the remaining 14,000 MILF combatants and 2,450 weapons shall commence only upon the substantial compliance of the GPH (Government of the Philippines) in the other tracks of normalization.

It added that compliance should also include the provision of socio-economic packages to the 26,145 combatants as agreed upon by the GPH and MILF Peace Implementing Panels.

The resolution was signed by MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and MILF Secretary Muhammad Ameen following the MILF Central Committee regular meeting at their main headquarters in Camp Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace, Unity, and Reconciliation has yet to comment on the MILF’s decision as of posting time.

The decommissioning of MILF forces is among the key provisions of the Annex on Normalization under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed on March 27, 2014.

Under the normalization track, MILF combatants, including their weapons, shall undergo gradual decommissioning.

Since the commencement of decommissioning in 2015, the MILF said that 26,145 or 60 percent of the 40,000-strong MILF combatants have been decommissioned.

However, the MILF lamented that of the 26,145 decommissioned MILF members, “not a single one has successfully undergone transition to productive civilian life.”

It added that other interventions for decommissioning have essentially not been provided.

In a statement released on the seventh anniversary of the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said that “former MILF combatants, who once fought government forces, have laid down their rifles and have reintegrated into mainstream society as peaceful and productive members of their communities.”

“Through the Normalization Program, these ex-fighters are now using ploughshares, fishnets, and calculators to earn sustainable incomes, send their children to school, and build a better future for themselves and their families,” Galvez said in a statement posted on its Facebook page on July 26.

But to be true to the letter and spirit of the Annex on Normalization, Ebrahim emphasized that there should be some showing of substantial compliance of the socio-economic interventions for combatants who have been profiled for decommissioning before others are made to undergo the initial steps towards decommissioning.

The MILF reiterated its call for good faith and good will, which are both necessary ingredients in the implementation of peace agreements, and which require parties to listen to the other's repeated pleas to heed to the written and signed agreement.

The MILF chief assured that the decommissioning of the remaining 14,000, or 35 percent of the MILF forces, and 2,450 weapons will proceed once the GPH substantially complies with the other tracks of normalization, including the socio-economic provisions that both sides agreed.

Both parties formed the foreign-led Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) to oversee the process of decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons.

The IDB is chaired by Turkey along with Norway and Brunei, and two representatives each from the Philippine government and the MILF.

Aside from decommissioning of forces, the Annex on Normalization also includes policing, the redeployment of troops and units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) away from the former conflict areas, and the disbandment of private armed groups.

It also covers the socio-economic development, detection and clearance of unexploded ordnances, transitional justice and reconciliation and the confidence-building measures of camps transformation, and amnesty, pardon, and other available processes to persons charged with or convicted of crimes connected to the armed conflict in Mindanao.