Saturday, August 30, 2008 Gov’t to work for completion of DDR provisions
THE government will work for the speedy implementation of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) provisions of the 1996 peace accord with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) as part of its ongoing initiatives to restore peace and proceed with economic development efforts in the conflict-ridden communities of Mindanao.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said that he and security officials led by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. will come up with their formal recommendations to the National Security Council (NSC) and ultimately, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on “getting to the brass tacks” of the DDR provisions of the 1996 government-MNLF peace agreement.
Teodoro said there are sufficient government funds available to implement the DDR portion of the accord.
The DDR aspects of the accord pertains to the laying down of arms of members of the MNLF, the breaking up of its armed groups, and the inclusion of its members as “integrees” of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The government, so far, has 1,500 MNLF integrees in the PNP and 5,000 others in the AFP.
“The DDR is well underway but we want to see the completion of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs so we can go on with the development projects in Mindanao,” Puno said in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. “If we can bring the 1996 agreement with the MNLF into conclusion, we can help expedite peace and development in Mindanao,” he added.
Teodoro, for his part, said the government has “to clutch at points of certainty and that is the 1996 agreement.”
“We have a party here, the MNLF, that has kept its peace, its side of the agreement,” he said.
Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, who chairs the MNLF, assured the government that the Islamic organization remains its “partner in the implementation of peace and development in Mindanao.”
He likewise categorically denied reports that the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have joined forces to sow terror in Mindanao.
“It is the MNLF forces that are balancing the situation in favor of the government, particularly in North Cotabato,” Sema said.
“We are undertaking peace and development programs in cooperation with the government, particularly the local government units. So there is no truth to the report that we and the MILF are combining forces,” she said.
Puno noted that when the government and the MNLF struck a peace accord in 1996, the MILF had agreed with all its provisions at that time.
He likewise recalled that the government was then of the belief that the MNLF was the sole representative of the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao.
“In fact, the MNLF is the only group recognized by the Organization of Islamic Conference to attend its meetings,” he said.
Puno said completing the DDR component of the 1996 government-MNLF accord would tap idle MNLF forces as partners of the PNP and AFP in maintaining peace and order in Mindanao.
“The MNLF forces are just on standby. If we could turn them around, they could help in maintaining peace and order instead of them just watching in the sidelines. I think that this will result in a greater climate of peace in Mindanao,” he said. (VR/Sunnex)
