The recent Senate Resolution No. 49, filed by Senator Imee Marcos, has thrust the delayed final phase of the decommissioning of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces into the national spotlight—an unsettling development that underscores both the fragility of the peace process and the long-standing frustrations over its uneven implementation.
This isn’t just a bureaucratic hiccup. At stake are years of negotiation, billions in public funds, the trust of thousands of former combatants, and ultimately, the credibility of the Philippine government in upholding its end of a landmark peace deal.
The 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) promised a holistic roadmap to peace after nearly five decades of armed conflict. It was never just about laying down arms. It was about dignified reintegration—transformation from combatants into productive civilians through a careful choreography of security, socio-economic support, and transitional justice.
But today, the process stands paralyzed. On July 31, 2025, the MILF suspended the final decommissioning of its remaining 14,000 fighters and 2,450 weapons. Their grievance is pointed: the national government has allegedly failed to deliver on key socio-economic components of the peace agreement—“not a single one has successfully transitioned,” the group claims, despite the formal turnover of over 26,000 fighters and thousands of firearms since 2015.
From the government’s side, officials argue otherwise. Presidential Assistant David Diciano and Malacañang Press Officer Claire Castro both maintain that substantial assistance has been provided—including P100,000 in cash per combatant and a total allocation of over P4 billion for related programs. The government insists that it has a comprehensive report to back this up and is open to public scrutiny.
So who is telling the truth?
That’s exactly what this Senate inquiry must determine—and it cannot afford to delay.
The inquiry, if it is to truly aid legislation and restore public trust, must bring transparency to several critical questions:
- How exactly has the P4 billion been spent?
- What measurable socio-economic outcomes have been achieved?
- Why do MILF combatants, years after laying down arms, still feel abandoned by the system?
- Has bureaucratic red tape, poor coordination, or political foot-dragging sabotaged reintegration efforts?
Moreover, the inquiry should go beyond numbers and audits. It must capture the lived experiences of the decommissioned: are they employed, educated, treated fairly, and included in their communities? Have they been meaningfully transitioned into civilian life—or simply disarmed and forgotten?
Let’s be clear: the postponement of decommissioning is not just an “internal matter” between the MILF and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU). It’s a national issue that reverberates across Mindanao, where communities once traumatized by war now live in anxious limbo.
It also sends a chilling signal to future peace processes in the Philippines and elsewhere: that promises, even those enshrined in law and backed by plebiscite, can be left unfulfilled.
The risk of returning to violence may be remote for now, but frustration, broken trust, and prolonged uncertainty are dangerous fuels. The longer this impasse continues, the more that peace becomes not a reality, but a performance—a ticking time bomb beneath the surface of official pronouncements.
This is not the time for finger-pointing or politicized grandstanding. Congress must act swiftly, independently, and credibly. It must demand documentation, convene all stakeholders—including civil society, independent monitors, and the communities themselves—and ensure that any gaps in implementation are transparently addressed.
In the end, peace is not built by agreements alone, but by the trust they engender and the justice they deliver. If we fail to uphold that trust, then we risk letting down not just the MILF, but the entire promise of Bangsamoro autonomy and national reconciliation.
Let us not allow a delayed promise to become a broken one.