Land study paves way for development of MILF camps

HOME This undated photo shows the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s Camp Rajamuda in Pikit, Cotabato, which the front’s members and their families call home. The government recently launched a pilot study mapping land claims in six MILF camps in the Maguindanao and Lanao provinces and Cotabato. —BONG S. SARMIENTO

COTABATO CITY—The government has completed a pilot study mapping land claims in six acknowledged camps of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a key step toward resolving land issues tied to the normalization track of the Bangsamoro peace process.

The findings are expected to help the Joint Task Force on Camps Transformation and the Joint Normalization Committee, which are mechanisms with mandates from the government and MILF peace implementing panels (PIPs), determine whether socioeconomic and land tenure programs, including housing for the decommissioned MILF combatants, can be carried out in the identified areas.

The final report of the Parcellary Inventory Project also gives the parties an initial inventory and analysis—built on a geographic information system—of statutory and customary land claims in priority areas within the six government-recognized MILF camps.

“When we talk about land in the Bangsamoro, we are talking about something deeply personal,” said Presidential Peace Adviser Mel Senen Sarmiento, who also chairs the government’s PIP.

He stressed that understanding the situation on the ground must come first before deciding what to do on how to massively transform the MILF camps into sustainable zones of peaceful and economically productive communities.

The government-recognized MILF camps are Abubakar as-Siddique in Maguindanao del Norte, Badre and Omar in Maguindanao del Sur, Rajamuda in Cotabato, and Bushra Somiorang and Bilal in the Lanao provinces.

Guiding decisions

The final report of the land inventory project was presented by the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (Opapru) on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.

The report is expected to help planners formulate action plans on land governance, livelihood and other normalization programs under the Bangsamoro peace process.

Speaking on behalf of MILF Chair Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim and MILF-PIP Chair Mohagher Iqbal, Member of Parliament Ali Salik stressed the mapping’s completion must not be considered the end of the responsibility of the parties in as far as camps transformation is concerned.

Salik reaffirmed the MILF’s commitment to the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro with the completion of the pilot mapping initiative.

Bangsamoro Transition Authority Speaker Mohammad Yacob said the report should guide future decisions and programs toward healing, reconciliation and inclusive progress.

Under the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Roadmap approved by the PIPs in January last year, the project falls under the track on reparations, which seeks to address the consequences of marginalization, including land dispossession.