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By Teng Lauban Datu
Cotabato City Bureau Chief .

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process has forged an agreement to formalize their partnership in implementing the decommissioning process for 40,000 Moro Islamic Liberation Front combatants and their weapons in the next three years.

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At the signing ceremony of the memorandum of agreement, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. underscored the importance of the collaboration between Opapp and the AFP in pushing forward the Bangsamoro peace process.

“The MOA that we signed is not only about the transfer of funds from Opapp to the Armed Forces but more importantly, it signifies our commitment to continue with the process of healing, and the process of normalization in the Bangsamoro.”

“We have long dreamed for peace in the Bangsamoro region,” Madrigal said, emphasizing that maintaining “mutual trust” between the government and the MILF is crucial in the Normalization process.

Under the agreement, the AFP will provide basic military training to 3,000 MILF-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces fighters in order to prepare them as members of  the composite Joint Peace and Security Teams.

The 6,000-strong JPSTs will be composed of 3,000 MILF-Biaf members, 1,600 policemen and 1,400 soldiers. Currently, 220 MILF-Biaf combatants are undergoing training in Camp Lucero, in Carmen, North Cotabato.

JPSTs  will be responsible for securing areas that will undergo the Normalization process, particularly the six-government acknowledged MILF camps which will be transformed into peaceful, progressive and resilient communities.

According to Madrigal, the training course for MILF members aims to achieve “same views towards security, to develop same parameters, and synchronization of the movement” in the maintenance of peace and order in Bangsamoro communities.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to witness the public launch of the decommissioning process on Sept. 7 in the municipality of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. (with reports from opapp)

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