By Christian V. Esguerra
MANILA—The largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines is pushing for a three-year extension of the interim Bangsamoro government, fearing it may not finish key reforms under a landmark peace accord and will not have enough to show to voters in the 2022 elections.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is halfway through the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), a three-year body headed by the group whose 2014 peace agreement with the government paved the way for a new autonomous region in the southern Philippines last year.
But switching from rebels to rulers and running an entire region, beset with chronic poverty over years of conflict, has not been easy, said MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim, who sits as the BTA’s interim chief minister.
“Turning the homeland, which has been devastated for decades, introducing progress and development, is really very challenging. And that we have to explain to our people,” he said on “Facts First” podcast.
Murad said his group was “endorsing” a civil society organization’s recommendation to extend the transition period until 2025, a move that will require congressional approval.
‘WE’RE JUST STARTING’
Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the BTA will be dissolved once the new parliament is formed following the first regular elections in the new region in 2022.
“We’re very concerned kasi ang tingin namin, nag-i-start pa lang kami. And then parang wala pa kaming tangible na accomplishment talaga na maipakita namin,” Murad said.
“So ‘yun ang challenge sa amin, na kung mag-eleksyon, baka sabihin ng mga tao, wala naman ginawa ito.”
The MILF was originally pushing for a six-year transition, which was halved following delays in the passage of a new law creating the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
A botched 2015 anti-terrorism operation that killed 44 members of an elite police unit in Mamasapano, Maguindanao stymied the implementation of the historic peace agreement with the MILF under then President Benigno Aquino III.
‘WHAT IF WE LOSE?’
The delay cost the MILF half of the six-year transition in the original timetable. Congress, under President Rodrigo Duterte, later passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law in 2018 with the new region set following a two-stage plebiscite the following year.
Murad said the new transition schedule might not be enough to complete systemic and structural changes in the region, including the crucial decommissioning of some 40,000 MILF combatants under the peace deal’s normalization process.
The group is now talking with several congressmen explaining why it supports the proposed extension contained in the midterm review of the Mindanao People’s Caucus, he said.
“Kasi nga nakita natin na kailangan talaga na meron,” he said.
“Halimbawa, mabuti kung talagang siguradong manalo kami (in 2022). Pero walang assurance ‘yun kasi anybody’s game na pagka-eleksyon na. Pag hindi, ano mangyayari dun sa other aspects ng negotiation?”
DECOMMISSIONING
A total of 12,000 MILF fighters have been decommissioned, but many of them have yet to receive the full economic package worth P1 million each in exchange for returning to civilian life, said Murad.
Many of the remaining 28,000 combatants now need to be convinced why they should still take part in two more phases of the decommissioning process, he said.
“Tingin namin, talagang pag nagkaroon ng election (in 2022 in BARMM), ang mangyayari, ma-side line ‘yung normalization na hindi ma-implement. So ‘yan ang magiging problema,” he said, adding that Duterte has yet to issue an amnesty proclamation for some 2,000 MILF fighters.
Last month, the BTA approved an administrative code for the new regional government. But it will still need to work on five more codes for local government, civil service, education, revenue, and elections before 2022.
The region was also allocated a much bigger budget compared with the old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Its block grant is worth P65.3 billion in this year’s appropriations law, on top of a P10-billion special development fund it was supposed to receive.