The Philippines’ largest rebel group yesterday retired nearly 150 guerrillas and handed over 75 firearms for decommissioning to encourage congress to pass a proposed law giving minority Muslims self-rule.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III visited the headquarters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to witness the weapons handover, the first concrete action by the organization to abandon a decades-old rebellion that has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
Aquino and senior MILF leaders both said the largely symbolic activity was intended to spur congress to pass a delayed proposed law giving Muslims self-rule in the Catholic nation’s south under the terms of a peace treaty last year.
Photo: EPA
“This is one of the most difficult decisions we have made so far in more than 40 years of struggle,” chief MILF peace negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal said in a speech.
“We want to show the world that the MILF will always comply with its obligations set forth in the signed agreement,” Iqbal added.
Aquino, who ends his six-year term in a year’s time, wants the Muslim self-rule legislation to be passed soon, fearing that his successor might not pursue the peace initiative.
“Let us show them that we are worthy of their trust,” Aquino said in his speech.
Congress failed to pass the bill before it went into recess last week amid a public outcry over the killing of 44 police commandos by MILF rebels and other armed groups on the southern island of Mindanao in January.
The police officers were ambushed after they passed through MILF-influenced areas following a raid that killed Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian militant and one of the most-wanted “terrorists” sought by the US.
Work on the Muslim self-rule legislation is expected to continue when congress resumes on July 27, but congressional leaders have said it is unlikely to be passed before October.
The 75 MILF weapons, including 24 pieces of equipment such as mortars and machine guns, were handed over to an independent decommissioning body headed by Turkey and also comprising members from Norway and Brunei.
The haul is believed by Philippine police to comprise just a tiny fraction of the arsenal of the 10,000-member MILF.
Under the peace deal, 30 percent of MILF combatants and weapons are to be decommissioned once congress passes the Muslim self-rule law.
The weapons are to be stored in a secure area controlled by the decommissioning body.
Another 35 percent are to follow after the law is ratified in a regional plebiscite, while the remainder would be handed over once the regional government is established and its leaders elected in May next year.
The 145 guerrillas retired yesterday are to return to civilian life and receive assistance from the government, peace negotiators said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing