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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider DSWD extends P137.6 million cash aid to former MILF combatants

DSWD extends P137.6 million cash aid to former MILF combatants

Published Mar 11, 2020 12:00 am
By Charissa Luci-Atienza The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has extended P137.6 million in cash assistance to more than 1,300 decommissioned former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In a statement, the DSWD said 1,376 former MILF combatants received the financial assistance in a payout event in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on Feb. 21. "The payout was the second phase of decommissioning activities where the Department distributed P80,000 each to the former combatants under the Bangsamoro Transitory Family Support Package (BTFSP) and P20,000 each through the Livelihood Settlement Grant (LSG)," the DSWD said. It explained the beneficiaries may use the BTFSP aid "for their basics needs based on priorities such as for food, family, hygiene, sleeping, kitchen and shelter kits, medical, educational, and transportation, among others." The LSG may be used as seed capital to start a micro-enterprise or to purchase starter kits for the re-establishment of damaged livelihoods, it added. Gracing the Feb. 21 payout event were representatives from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the Independent Decommissioning Body created by the Philippine government and the MILF. The DSWD noted that some 12,000 MILF fighters will be decommissioned this year and that the rest of the payouts will be made "between 2021 and 2022." The BTFSP and LSG are part of the socio-economic program component provided for under Executive Order (EO) No. 79 signed in March 2019. The EO 79 focuses on the normalization track of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB), the final peace agreement signed between the government and the MILF. It seeks to reintegrate decommissioned MILF combatants into mainstream society through the provision of livelihood and other appropriate programs and services. The first phase of decommissioning involving 1,190 ex-combatants was held in September last year in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, with President Duterte and some of his Cabinet secretaries witnessing the event.  
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