The decommissioning process resumed its third phase on September 27, Tuesday, at the Old Capitol in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. About 5,500 former combatants are expected to be decommissioned by the end of October 2022.
A total of 14,000 combatants is expected to be decommissioned by the end of the third phase, and more than half of this number have already been decommissioned from November 2021 to March 2022.
Every decommissioned combatant is entitled to transitional cash assistance worth P100,000 worth of transitional cash assistance, of which P80,000 is a Bangsamoro Transitory Family Support (BTFS) Package that can be used on basic needs and a Livelihood Settlement Grant (LSG) amounting to P20,000 worth of seed capital for setting up a small business.
This socioeconomic assistance is facilitated through the Task Force for Decommissioned Combatants and their Communities (TFDCC), with the assistance of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Serving as TFDCC co-chair is Deputy Speaker MP Laisa Masuhud Alamia of the Bangsamoro Parliament.
Present at the launching ceremony were Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity Carlito Galvez Jr., and Independent Decommissioning Body Chairman Ahmet Idem Akay. With them were Undersecretary Atty. Joahna Paula A. Domingo who attended on behalf of Special Assistant to the President Antonio Ernesto Floirendo Lagdameo, Jr. who was the event’s guest of honor.
Also in the event were members and officials of the Peace Implementing Panels, heads of normalization mechanisms, and representatives of national government agencies and the BARMM regional government, alongside local and international partners in support of the Bangsamoro peace process.
