PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has approved a proposed executive order (EO) on the implementation of the normalization process in Mindanao, Malacañang said on Tuesday, March 5.
Duterte gave his nod on the normalization program under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) during the 35th Cabinet meeting held at Malacañan Palace on Monday, March 4, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
The Palace official, however, did not elaborate on Duterte's approval of the EO.
"The Chief Executive during the same Cabinet meeting approved the proposed executive order on the implementation of the Annex on the Normalization under the comprehensive agreement on the Bangsamoro between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," Panelo said in a statement.
The annex on normalization is the last of the four annexes to the CAB signed between the Philippine government and the MILF in 2014.
The normalization annex deals with decommissioning the armed wing of the MILF and outlines steps to disarm private armies in the new Bangsamoro region.
The last annex to the framework agreement defines normalization as a process "whereby communities can achieve their desired quality of life, which includes the pursuit of sustainable livelihood and political participation within a peaceful deliberative society."
The Chief Executive approved the EO following the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which creates the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) in place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The Barmm has expanded land and water jurisdiction, greater fiscal autonomy, and increased share in national government resources, among others, according to the landmark BOL.
On February 22, Duterte led the oath-taking of the 80 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), which serves as an interim government of the Barmm.
The BTA is led by a chief minister, a position assumed by MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim. (SunStar Philippines)