Joint GPH-MILF facility for decomissioned weapons done

CAMP ABUBAKAR, Barira, Maguindanao - The first of eleven Joint Peace and Security Team (JPST) barracks to be built in seven provinces across Mindanao was officially turned over to the Joint Peace and Security Committee (JPSC) on Wednesday in this former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) stronghold.

The barracks are being constructed with funding support from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through its Support to Peacebuilding and Normalization (SPAN) Programme.

Newly-installed JPSC co-chair BGen Francisco Ariel Felicidario III AFP, who also co-chairs the Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities - Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (CCCH-AHJAG), accepted the barracks on behalf of the JPSC.

The facility shall serve as the headquarters of the first JPST team which has been tasked to safeguard weapons turned over by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - Bangsamoro who have undergone the process of decommissioning.

The decommissioned firearms are now kept in the Secured Arms and Storage Area (SASA) inside the camp under the oversight of the International Decommissioning Body (IDB).

The JPST team, composed of 15 members each from the MILF-BIAF, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), has been deployed in the area for almost a week.

Symbol of trust in the peace process

OPAPP Undersecretary David B. Diciano, head of the Joint Normalization Division and Chair of the GPH Peace Implementing Panel and Enrico Gaveglia, UNDP deputy resident representative, led the turnover of the facility.

“Today’s turnover of the first of 11 JPST barracks that will be established in mutually agreed areas symbolizes our desire to ensure the implementation of the security component of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB),” Diciano said.

“The decommissioned weapons you will be securing here in this camp represents the decades of armed struggle of the Bangsamoro People. And now that they have been put to rest, they will serve as a reminder to all of us of the sacrifices made by our Moro brothers and sisters in order to uplift the lives of their people,” he stressed.

The JPSC coordinates with the GPH and MILF implementing panels on security arrangements, develops policies and operational guidelines for creating a more effective partnership among JPST members, and carries out security arrangements for activities related to the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).