DAVAO CITY – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed the appointment of Mel Senen Sarmiento as the new secretary of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU).

Sarmiento succeeded Carlito Galvez Jr., who stepped down on April 21.

MILF First Vice Chairman and Peace Implementing Panel chief Mohagher Iqbal said the group is ready to work with Sarmiento towards the completion of the peace process.

“The moment before us is clear. The peace agreements are signed. The basic institutional architecture is in place,” Iqbal said. “We recognize an opportunity in his appointment for the substantial fulfillment of the CAB and building the foundations of peace in the Bangsamoro.”

Iqbal admitted that harder tasks are still waiting to be implemented, citing the resumption of normalization track and building fiscal and governance capacity in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The MILF official is looking forward that the new peace adviser will ensure that the Bangsamoro's first parliamentary elections in September will strengthen rather than fracture democratic legitimacy and deliver development that reaches the communities most affected by decades of conflict.

“This is civilian work. It requires the kind of governance experience that Secretary Sarmiento brings – his understanding of municipal administration, regional development coordination, and national government – BARMM intergovernmental work,” Iqbal added. “The Bangsamoro's future depends on whether we finish what we started. The MILF stands ready to contribute fully to that work.”

Sarmiento headed the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) under President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Iqbal emphasized that the Bangsamoro region needs a partner on the national level who understands how institutions actually work, not simply how security operations function.

Galvez, who served in various vital positions in the military before leading the OPAPRU, was recently criticized by some sectors in the Bangsamoro region for his alleged intervention in the internal affairs in the Bangsamoro government.

But the MILF acknowledged Galvez’s contribution as partner in the critical years of the implementation of the peace agreement.

“His tenure witnessed historic achievements-the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and beginning the work on decommissioning. We bid him well with respect and appreciation,” Iqbal said.

Galvez retired to devote time to his family.

"I shall step down from public office after 46 years of unbroken service to our nation. This decision is borne of a personal necessity to attend to the health of my wife, and to devote myself to my family, a commitment that is, perhaps, long overdue," he said.