Postponed by Covid-19, the process provided for in the agreements to establish the Bangsamoro autonomous region and put an end to a conflict that has cost 120,000 lives has been resumed. For each weapon delivered, 2,400 US dollars will be paid. The mystery of the jihadist formations that continue to operate in the Philippines.
Manila () – The ongoing disarmament of the Islamic rebels in Mindanao, which began on September 27, is a decisive step to put an end to a conflict that has lasted fifty years, with varying intensity, and has left a toll of 120,000 victims between combatants and civilians. The disarmament process, which should have been completed in 2019, was interrupted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agreements in force for the full establishment of autonomy in the areas with a majority or substantial Muslim presence in the south of the Philippines (the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region – which was approved by a plebiscite in February 2019), contemplate a disarmament in successive stages of the Moro Islamic Liberation front (MILF), the strongest armed movement, which remained an interlocutor of the Manila government and whose combatants were partly integrated into the local security system and partly agreed to the possibility of obtaining a job or economic benefits.
It is estimated that, in this last phase of the disarmament of the almost 19,000 combatants who still remain under the MILF flag, 2,400 firearms will be recovered out of an estimated total of 7,000, while another 5,000 have already been delivered in the previous phase.
In compliance with the disarmament process, each combatant who surrenders his weapons, thus accepting the new situation of autonomy, will receive US$2,400 for each firearm. However, there are many doubts raised by those who fear that disarmament is only formal and that, in any case, the ease of obtaining a lethal weapon at low cost could neutralize the objective of the measure. A 2016 report by the organization International Alert Philippines, which is involved in verifying the peace process, found that there were 50,000 firearms in the southern Philippines, higher than a previous report by the Philippine Department of Defense.
In reality, it is practically impossible to know how many weapons the various Islamic-inspired groups that have fought over the years and in some cases -such as Abu Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and Jemaah Islamiyah- continue to operate in connection with jihadism internationally or participating in criminal activities in the islands of Mindanao, Basilan and Jolo. Added to this is the availability of locally produced or smuggled weapons.
