COTABATO CITY—Eighty-five (85) former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants from Camp Abubakar, Badre, Omar, and Rajamuda in Maguindanao received cash assistance on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022.
The initiative served as the continuation of peacebuilding training spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Order and Safety (MPOS) held a few months ago.
“We started from profiling former combatants who were qualified. This is only selected. We know many of our former combatants are qualified to receive modest financial support from the Ministry, amounting to Php10,000.00 each,” MPOS Director General Atty. Al-Rashid Balt said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim said in his video message, “sa awa ng Allah ay sama-sama natin naitatag ang BARMM, ngunit ang pagbalangkas nito ay patuloy pa rin nating ginagawa [at] inaasahan namin kasama pa rin kayo sa daang ito.”
“Sa pamamagitan ng pagsasanay na ito, mas malalaman na natin kung paano tayo makakatulong sa pagpapalaganap ng kapayapaan at pag-aayos ng komunidad,” he added.
Habib Pigkaulan, one of the participants from Camp Rajamuda, said, “malaking tulong na ito sa akin kahit papaano mayroon na ako pambili ng gamot. Ang pinakamahalaga sa akin ay hindi na ako sumabak pa muli sa bakbakan. Hindi kagaya noong 2004 paglusob ng Philippine Military sa Buliok complex.”
For Haris Ahmad from Camp Badre, “jihad” (struggle) is not yet over, saying, “ang jihad ay hindi lamang paghawak ng baril kundi [maging ang] paghahanap-buhay ay parte pa rin ng jihad.”
“Meron na tayong konting puhunan, palaguin natin ito, In sha Allah,” Ahmad added.
The Ministry is hopeful that the budget for next year will be approved in order to conduct more peacebuilding trainings for the former combatants. (Majid Nur/BIO)
