Zubiri attends MILF Decommissioning

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, proponent of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, joined President Rodrigo Duterte at the launch of the second phase of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front decommissioning program on Saturday, 7 September 2019, in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

"This is a concrete step in accord with the goals of BOL," Zubiri said. This phase of decommissioning comes a year after the passage of the historic Bangsamoro Organic Law. It is facilitated by the Independent Decommissioning Body, with the Implementing Panels of the Government of the Philippines, and the Joint Normalization Committee.

Phase I of the four-phase process was carried out in June 2015, in compliance with the Annex on Normalization signed by the MILF and the national government in 2014.

"We are not only stepping back from arms and violence. We are also, more importantly, giving former combatants the tools that they need to rebuild their lives and reintegrate into a more peaceful, productive BARMM," Zubiri added. Decommissioned combatants are set to receive livelihood and other social benefits.

"I think with the passage of the BOL, the MILF has seen a more prudent way forward. Mindanao has had a long checkered history with the national government, but I am glad that we have now all come to agree that violence has no place in the future that we want for our children."