COTABATO CITY—One-hundred six (106) decommissioned Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants benefitted from the first batch of rice assistance, as part of decommissioning package, at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on Wednesday.
Bangsamoro Executive Secretary Abdulraof Macacua said that the activity is yet another forward development in the quest for successful peace endeavor, noting that rice is a fundamental need of everyone.
“I am sure that the recipients of rice distribution today would be very happy, since we are addressing their daily fundamental necessity, although this is only few among the package,” he added.
The National Government through Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP), Bangsamoro Government, Task Force for the Decommissioned Combatants and their Communities (TFDCC), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) led Wednesday’s ceremonial turnover of rice assistance.
Meanwhile, OPAPP Undersecretary David Diciano clarified some of the misconceptions on the normalization package.
He said that the P1M package will not be handed in full cash, instead it will be subdivided in different components such as scholarship, training and other socio-economic assistance [this is apart from the P100,000.00 cash given to individual combatant].
A total of 40,000 former combatants are expected to be decommissioned until the normalization process is complete. So far, 12,000 MILF combatants (30 percent) were already decommissioned during the second phase under the Annex of Normalization of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). (Bangsamoro Information Office)
