MILF calls on politicians to dismantle private armies before barangay polls

While four provincial governors of the Bangsamoro region are calling to hasten the full decommissioning of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before the conduct of barangay elections on October 30, the MILF leadership who now runs the autonomous region has in turn urged politicians to dismantle their private armies.

Ahod Balawag “Murad”

Ebrahim, the chairman of the MILF and now the chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said he has no problem to fast-track the process of decommissioning.

But he stressed that this effort should coincide with the eradication of private armies of the politicians, which he said “bolster tension in the region.”

Governors Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu of Maguindanao del Sur, Abdusakur Tan of Sulu, Hadjiman Hataman-Salliman of Basilan, and Yshmael Sali of Tawi-Tawi sent an “urgent appeal” to President Fer- dinand Marcos Jr. for the immediate decommissioning of MILF forces and the postponement of the barangay elections until the decommissioning is fully implemented.

They said that the presence of MILF base commands is the reason for the “climate of lawlessness” in the region.