Philippines starts reintegrating former Mindanao rebels into society

MANILA - The Philippines has started the reintegration of former rebels into the society, a move Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said will bring "lasting peace" in the southern Mindanao region.

On Saturday, the chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, and interim chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, handed over an assault rifle to Duterte at the start of a decommissioning ceremony in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, in the southern province of Maguindanao.

Murad said the assault rifle was "a token" by MILF for its "very strong appreciation for what (Duterte) has done to the Bangsamoro people and our homeland".

The decommissioning process of 1,060 MILF militants is part of the implementation of the "normalization" guaranteed by the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. This first batch of 12,000 soldiers amounts to about 30 percent of the 40,000-strong MILF-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces members to be decommissioned by April next year.

The decommissioning also includes the handover of 920 weapons and nearly 20 heavy weapons and more than 600 rounds for seven rocket launchers.

Duterte lauded the "significant progress" in the implementation of the comprehensive agreement.

"This is indeed a huge step toward our goal of achieving lasting peace for Mindanao," Duterte said in a speech on Saturday night. "Let us celebrate this milestone."

Duterte assured the MILF combatants "that the government will assist you as you reintegrate into society and enjoy fruitful and productive civilian lives".

"Let us set aside our differences and avoid further armed conflict," Duterte said, assuring the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, the MILF, and the people of Mindanao that "this administration will always listen to your grievances".

Duterte urged "all concerned stakeholders to continue working with government so that our gains for many years of peace-building efforts will never go to waste".

Under the normalization track, the combatants, their families and communities will receive social protection packages, sustainable livelihood programs, capacity-building training, health benefits and educational assistance.

It is envisioned that the ex-fighters will be able to return to mainstream society and six MILF camps and communities will be transformed into peaceful, productive and resilient communities.

Saturday's decommissioning ceremony took place seven months after the organic law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region was ratified in a plebiscite.

Since 1997, the government and the MILF have engaged in on-again, off-again negotiations on a settlement and political arrangement that would provide substantial autonomy to Muslims in Mindanao and put an end to the decades-old military conflict that started in the late 1960s.

About 150,000 people died in the conflict.

Xinhua