NEWS




24February

Western Mindanao high ranking MILF-BIAF combatants undergo ToT

Cotabato City-In compliance with the normalization track of the peace process with the Government of the Philippines (GPH), 25 men and women high ranking officers of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) in Western Mindanao Front have undergone Trainers Training (ToT) at LM Metro Hotel, Zamboanga City on February 19-22.
The program prepares the MIILF combatants to transform into civilian lives and transform the camps into vibrant and productive communities. The participants came from the 113rd, 114th, 115th and 117th Base Commands and Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade (BIWAB) of each command. This is the 5th batch as the other base commands have already completed the training last year.

The training covered 10 modules such as History of the Bangsamoro and the MILF, the Bangsamoro Organic Law/BARMM, Moral Governance, Islamic Values and Leadership, Qualities of a Leader, Conflict Resolution, and Managing the Package of the Decommissioning. 

The activity was facilitated by the School of Peace and Democracy – Bangsamoro (SPD-B) - selected staff from the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) and from the BTA, under administrative and logistic support of the United Nation Development Program (UNDP). 

Mr. Toks Ibrahim, the Administrative Officer of the BIAF, vouched for the activity expressed a message of gratitude to the UNDP, the SPD – B and to the base commands in the Western Minindanao Front headed by its OIC Front Commander Malik Caril.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nelson Peloton, Jr., the Project Officer of the UNDP, said that after the 5th batch, the stakeholders will hold assessment of the program and hopefully it will be cascaded in the MILF camps and communities. But he expressed a wait-and-see situation as the BTA extension is still in consideration.

The activity is one of the requisites of the decommissioning under the Annex on Normalization of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed on March 27, 2014, and the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) signed by the Philippine Government and the MILF on August 26, 2018, resspectively. The completers of the training will handle the succeeding trainings of the would-be decommissioned BIAF combatants.