NEWS




20November

MENRE to recruit former MILF fighters as ‘palaw’ rangers to implement BARMM’s greening program

Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao-– The Bangsamoro region’s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy (MENRE) will recruit former fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as forest rangers to implement the government’s greening program in the region, a Manila Bulletin report said on Wednesday. 

The hiring of 400 forest rangers from the BIAF would pursue the normalization track of the 2014 peace accord with the MILF, MP and Minister Abdulraf Macacua of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MENRE) said 

“The (hiring of 400 BIAF former combatants as forest rangers) would be like hitting two birds with one stone,” Macacua added, referring to the implementation of the normalization track and the enhanced greening program.

The “palaw guards,” as Macacua tagged them are the most potent protectors of mountains where they reside for decades. “Palaw” means mountain in Maguindanaon and Maranao dialects.

In the Manila Bulletin report, Macacua said that the prospected 400 “palaw” rangers will come from the BIAF not covered yet by the decommissioning process, and are retaining their service firearms to protect the remaining forest ranges in the region.

“They are the real forest rangers because they live in the forests and are aware of any intrusion,” he said.

“The will undergo formal trainings on the mechanics of effective planting and protection of trees in logged over areas in the Bangsamoro, focused initially in Maguindanao,” Macacua said during the Kapihan sa Bangsamoro.