KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato (PIA) -- Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim announced Thursday that the final phase of the decommissioning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will happen this month. 

"The peace implementing panels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front   and the Government of the Philippines are scheduled to hold the decommissioning  ceremony for the remaining 5,500 former MILF combatants and putting 2,400 firearms beyond use on September 28, 2022, the final phase of the third phase of the decommissioning process," Ebrahim told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his speech Thursday during the inauguration of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority 2022-2025. 

Decommissioning is an integral part of the normalization track process under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the landmark peace agreement signed between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF in 2014. It initiates the return of the Moro combatants to peaceful and productive civilian life. 

The first phase of decommissioning took off in 2015 with 145 MILF combatants and 75 weapons. 

This was consequently followed by the second phase in 2019 with 12,000 combatants decommissioned and 2,100 weapons withdrawn.

The third phase started in November, 2021, which is expected to involve 14,000 MILF combatants, including weapons when completed.  

A  total of 5,250 MILF combatants were decommission in December, 2021 under the first part of the third  phase of the decommissioning process.