PH, MILF to discuss decommissioning of rebels, guns in Kuala Lumpur

DAVAO CITY, Philippines–Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators agreed to meet in Kuala Lumpur on Friday for the signing of the implementing procedures for the decommissioning of firearms and forces the erstwhile rebel group earlier agreed to.

Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the expected signing would be attended by representatives from the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB), which is made up of experts from such countries as Turkey, Norway and Brunei.

Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer. AFP FILE PHOTO

The MILF will be represented by its chief negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, according to Coronel-Ferrer.

“The signatories of the protocol implementing the (decommissioning) are the panel chairs, the IDB chair and the Malaysian facilitator,” she said.

Coronel-Ferrer said the meeting came amid doubts over the implementation of the peace process following Sunday’s clash between MILF forces and members of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force (SAF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

But she did not say if any discussion on the bloodbath would be held.

Coronel-Ferrer said during the meeting, the two panels would discuss plans for the turnover of the first batch of weapons to the IDB, which was tasked to secure the weapons in a storage area.

These decommissioned weapons, she said, would be kept there and put beyond use.

The decommissioning process was among the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro that the Philippine government and the MILF formally signed in March 2014.

Initially, the MILF agreed to turnover 75 high-powered firearms during the ceremony that would mark the start of the decommissioning process.

Under the CAB annex’s on normalization, the decommissioning process will be implemented in four phases.

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