Under BARMM, former rebels turn into humanitarian volunteers

DAVAO CITY -- It was a memorable moment for six hardcore members off Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters to be part of the “Tabang” outreach mission volunteers of the Bangsamoro Autonomous region in bringing aid to Taal victims in Batangas few days ago.

From battlefield warriors' lives, the warriors have turned into humanitarian works as they are now in-charge at the frontline in bringing aids to the needy evacuees of the volcano eruption.

“Its hard to express the feeling, we are so elated of this transformation we experience now,” said Muhalidin Guialil, a former squad commander under the Task Force Ittihad of Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Guialil, 40, who is now savoring a civilian life with his three children and his wife. He said there is no more fear of being chased or hide from military operatives as compared  to the days when the rebel group was still  fighting against the government troops.

He heads now the  “Bantay Tulay” volunteers under Interior and local government office, monitoring the clogging brought by water hyacinths  in major riverbanks connecting Maguindanao and Cotabato City that cause the overflow of water and ended in flooding.

But efforts has not ended from there, just lately, dozens of them were integrated to water and rescue trainings (WASAR), enhancing their capacity to be an active responders in their respective communities during emergency situations or calamities.

“Had we not reached into peace agreement, we could not experience the life we experience, now— the dignity and pride of doing service to our kababayans”, he said in vernacular.

He and his volunteer comrades in MILF is not yet included in the first batch of decommissioned combatants, however the role they play now is almost to the gains of normalization.

This is the same effort now applied to the former members of Dawlah Islamiyah Mindanao and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) who yielded recently to the government. 

This week, 16 members of BIFF surrendered to the 6th Infantry Division.

Twelve of those who surrendered are coming from the area of 33rd Infantry Battalion operating in the borders of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao.

Lieutenant Colonel Elmer Boongaling, the battalion commander said they are working with the BARMM government in de-radicalization process of the returnees.

“We want them to go back in their communities not anymore inclined to holding guns,” he said.

With the help of special program under BARMM’s Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Order Synergy (HELPS) and Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READI), former combatants are assisted in reintegration to civilian life, given an ample monthly cash incentive amounting to 5,000 pesos for the start up.

The incentive will be collected from the battalion. The military and returnees will work together  in community services as part of the program.

“We conduct community clean up drive to their villages, sometimes we bring them as speakers in our campaign against violent extremism, we want them to experience the small amount they received are product of their sweats and not just rely on dole outs”, Boongaling added.

Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the Interior and Local Government of BARMM said efforts is boosted for the peace and order now that Bangsamoro government has taken off.

“They will not just reform themselves but they will be an asset in their own communities in helping government to uplift their conditions”, he said.

This week the  ministry is in intensive strategic workshop in Samal Island for a re-energized and more pro-active approaches as the agency is manned with new and old employees.

Sinarimbo pushes for a more drastic reform approach towards Bangsamoro government  brand of service “moral governance.”