A TOTAL of 2,000 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) members will receive P63,000 financial assistance each through the Office of the Bangsamoro Mujahideen under Special Circumstances (OBMUSC).
Bai Zaida Abid, OBMUSC Benefit Availment Section chief, said Thursday, March 5, the distribution of the third batch of payouts began March 2 in Cotabato City. The beneficiaries include 676 from Cotabato City, 472 from Marawi City, 360 from Sulu, 202 from Zamboanga City, 115 from General Santos City, 92 from Tawi-Tawi, 62 from Davao City, and 21 from Palawan.
Abid said the financial aid represents a lump-sum payout equivalent to nine months of the P7,000 monthly cash assistance for 2025.
Abid said the office expects to distribute financial aid to 5,000 beneficiaries for 2026—2,000 for the first semester and 3,000 for the second semester.
“We are happy to have witnessed the results of the assistance given to the Mujahideen. We are seeing that the aid from the Bangsamoro Government plays a vital role in their everyday lives,” Abid said.
“We are grateful to the Mujahideen because if it were not for them and their fight for our self-determination and rights, the Bangsamoro Government would have never come into being. We reassure that we will do our best to help them,” Abid said.
Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) 57 provides that benefits are available to senior citizens—who turned 60 years old at least from the effectivity of the law—and permanently disabled Mujahideen who "meaningfully participated in the struggle for the right to self-determination of the Bangsamoro people between 1969 and 2019 for at least 20 years and are underprivileged."
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm), through OBMUSC, provides financial assistance to senior citizens and permanently disabled MILF and MNLF members. This reinforces the Bangsamoro Government’s commitment to ensuring equal opportunities and access to basic necessities for its constituents, often in coordination with the National Government. (SunStar Zamboanga)