Task Force for Decommissioned Combatants and their Communities (TFDCC) co-chair Atty. Laisa Masuhd Alamia met with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace,Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) in a high-level meeting last August 30 in Manila to discuss the acceleration of the socioeconomic development aspect of the normalization process.

Also in the meeting were officials from the normalization mechanisms of the Philippine Government (GPH), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the Bangsamoro Parliament, together with other guests and resource persons who are also key actors in the security sector.

In the said meeting, the TFDCC presented its panel-approved program document that covers the Socioeconomic Development Program for Decommissioned Combatants and their Communities. The document contains a framework of interventions and a program roadmap that covers a five-year timeline. 

Following its recent successes in the decommissioning process as it facilitated the general intake of more than 19,000 MILF forces, the TFDCC detailed its next steps through individual and community-based programs in communities with decommissioned combatants across the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, as well as areas in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

Through its programs, the TFDCC also aims to mainstream the socioeconomic development aspect of Executive Order No. 79, s. 2019, implementing the Annex On Normalization under the Comprehensive Agreement On The Bangsamoro. This involves close coordination with provincial and municipal local government units in order to localize ongoing normalization efforts. This localization strategy expects to tap the direct support of Local Chief Executives and their offices (Municipal Social Welfare Development Office and Planning Office), and forms part of the Information, Education and Communication Campaign of TFDCC member-agencies, which began in 2020.