Senator Robinhood “Robin” Padilla stressed on Tuesday that government must not waste any more time fulfilling its promises to extend assistance to former fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) who availed of the state’s amnesty program.
“Today we discussed many things that were not widely known. What we must do now is think of how government will deliver on its promises to the MILF,” he said.
Padilla recently chaired a consultative meeting with officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) at the Senate.
According to the participants, the government has not fulfilled its promises to former MNLF and MILF fighters who availed of amnesty. Since 2014, only 26,145 decommissioned combatants have received assistance, while 14,000 more have yet to be decommissioned.
“Our combatants are frustrated. Why is the aid promised to them not yet delivered the fulfillment of the promises should not be this slow,” Mohagher Iqbal, former official of the MILF and now a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament, said.
Padilla said that he will discuss the matter with fellow Mindanao senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Ronald dela Rosa, to look into what happened. According to the senator, he and Zubiri in particular were surprised by the situation.