Bangsamoro gov’t warns MILF members on peace pact violation after clan dispute settlement

MEMBERS OF the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who are part of families involved in a clan dispute have been warned against renewed violence after a peace pact was signed over the weekend. Executive Secretary Abdulraof Macacua of the Bangsamoro government, in a statement on Monday, said MILF members who will violate the treaty will be removed from the organization that now holds a leadership role in the new autonomous region. The clan dispute, referred to as rido, involved the Sindatok and Tundok families in the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao. The peace settlement was mediated by the Bangsamoro government, Maguindanao provincial government, Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, military, police, religious leaders, and other peace monitoring groups in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). “We are thankful for both parties for agreeing to settle their understanding. This also benefits the civilians who always are the victims of violence due to armed conflict,” said Mr. Macacua, also the chief of staff of MILF’s armed forces known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF). Under the normalization process that is part of the MILF’s peace deal with the national government, about 30% of the BIAF’s 40,000 members were targeted for decommissioning by March this year.

CONFLICT MONITORING

Peacebuilding group International Alert Philippines, in its April-May 2020 report on critical events in the region released last week, noted intensified violence over land disputes amid the lockdown prompted by the coronavirus crisis. These conflicts included those involving families with MILF members. International Alert Country Manager Nikki de la Rosa, in a statement released with the report, said while these “flashpoints are tied to land issues,” links to “State apparatus” worsen the violence. “They have access to resources and have political connections, that is why they are able to engage in long-term violence,” she said. Ms. Dela Rosa said it is crucial for the BARMM government to address these ridos during the transition period until 2022. “The next 18 months will be critical in the Bangsamoro because it can motivate warring groups to arrive into a political settlement to end longstanding conflict or provoke more community-level violence magnified by the loss of livelihood on the one hand and a scramble for resources for the 2022 national elections on the other,” she said. —