MILF decommissioning, MNLF profiling key to peaceful elections: OPAPRU

MANILA – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) decommissioning and the Moro National Liberation Front's (MNLF) profiling are key to peaceful elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim (BARMM) in 2025, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) said Saturday.

Dennis Legaspi, director of OPAPRU International Private Partnership Office, said during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City that the decommissioning of MILF combatants is a "big help" to ensure that next year's parliamentary elections would be orderly.

Darwin Wally Wee, director of OPAPRU's Communications and Public Affairs Service, also expressed optimism about the "peaceful, orderly, and credible" BARMM elections, given the success of the socio-economic profiling of the MNLF combatants, as part of the government's Transformation Program.

To date, about 26,132 MILF combatants have been decommissioned in three phases since 2019.

The fourth and final phase of the decommissioning process targets an estimated 14,000 combatants.

On the other hand, the government has already completed the socio-economic profiling for about 1,963 MNLF combatants, Wee said.

"So, there shall be a peaceful, orderly, and credible first BARMM elections in 2025. The first election in BARMM is very symbolic," he said.

Legaspi said other countries have also signified their intent to help the Philippine government educate BARMM voters as they participate in the first parliamentary elections in the region.

Meanwhile, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will lead the celebration of National Peace Consciousness Month and the commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF at Malacañan Palace in Manila on Monday, Wee said.

"What we expect on Monday is the Moro leaders will express their support on the President's Bangsamoro peace agenda," he said.

"What we want here is not just for the Peace Month but for the entire year, we need to celebrate the peace. Peace, we often take for granted. Kapag pumunta po tayo sa mga grounds (When you go to the grounds) – Samar areas, Bangsamoro areas – peace is very fragile and we need to protect the peace process at all cost. Peace can be overturned in an overnight way, so we need to protect the peace process."

Under Proclamation 675 issued in 2004, National Peace Consciousness Month is celebrated every September to instill consciousness and understanding of the importance of peace in the country.

The signing of the Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF on Sept. 2, 1996, ended the Moro fighters' hostilities in the southern Philippines since 1972. (PNA)