Peace panels create task force for decommissioned MILF combatants

The Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panels have signed an agreement to create a task force that will lead development programs for combatants who will lay down their arms and their communities.

The task force will assist the panels in identifying and implementing "socio-economic priorities and development projects" for decommissioned members of the MILF, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said in a press release on Tuesday.

It added that it will come up with special programs for women auxiliary forces of the MILF who will be decommissioned.

It will be composed of three members each from the government and MILF panels, and will be in place until both parties sign the exit agreement after the fulfillment of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, it added.

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"The new Task Force is part of the continuing effort by the government and the MILF to move forward the other dimensions of the peace agreement, alongside the passage of the law establishing the Bangsamoro government," said chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer.

In January, negotiators from both sides approved the details of how the MILF members' weapons will be decommissioned. 

The protocol signed by the peace panels lays out the process and steps for the following:

* MILF inventory of their arms and Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) personnel

* International Decommissioning Body (IDB) verification of the MILF inventory

* Ceremonial turnover of weapons

* MILF submission to IDB of a list on where their BIAF forces are deployed

Source http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/497014/news/nation/peace-panels-create-task-force-for-decommissioned-milf-combatants