‘No Surrender of Firearms for MILF’

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator Mohaquer Iqbal on Friday said that MILF fighters do not have to surrender their firearms after the peace deal between the group and the Philippine government was signed on Thursday.

The MILF negotiator said the firearms will be given to a third party, and will be stored in a warehouse where both the MILF and government will have no key.

Iqbal said there is no surrender of firearms to the government as these will be stored.” There is also no destruction of firearms but it will be put beyond use,” Iqbal said in a joint press conference on Friday, a day following the historic signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

Miriam Coronel Ferrer,the Government peace panel chief, said there is no surrender of firearms because the agreement is based on dignity. When asked what if the MILF wants to take back their firearms if ever the CAB fails, Ferrer said they will not be able to get it.

Ferrer said “That is the risk MILF undertook. The firearms will be under lock and key and put beyond use.”

Social Movement

Professor Abud Sayid Lingga, MILF peace panel member, also said that the MILF will not be disbanded but it will no longer be an armed group but a “social movement.” Iqbal said they are still discussing their role as a social movement.

The CAB will pave the way for the creation of a Bangsamoro political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Source: Gma News Online

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