GPH, MILF panels renew Bangsamoro peace commitment
GPH and MILF peace panels met in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 25, 2026, signing a Declaration of Continuity and approving new security, transitional justice and socioeconomic measures under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
NEWS
9/28/20262 min read
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The peace implementing panels of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front concluded a special meeting here Friday, signing a Declaration of Continuity of the Partnership to keep advancing the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
The panels — led by GPH Chairperson Mel Senen Sarmiento and MILF Chairperson Mohagher Iqbal, with Malaysian facilitator Tan Sri Dato' Seri Panglima Ts. Haji Zulkifli Bin Zainal Abidin — said the meeting builds on progress in the CAB's political track, including the successful first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections. The session followed an invitation Malaysia extended during the panels' 38th meeting on Aug. 4 in Davao City.
The panels approved the terms of reference for a technical working group tasked with drafting a roadmap for CAB implementation. They also signed an addendum setting an integrated, beneficiary-centered approach to delivering socioeconomic programs for decommissioned MILF combatants and the six previously acknowledged MILF camps.
On security, the panels extended the mandate of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group to Sept. 25, 2027, and the Civilian Protection Component to Sept. 25, 2028. They agreed in principle to a proposed framework for managing small arms and light weapons, directing a technical working group to finalize it while addressing the disbandment of private armed groups and combatant decommissioning. That framework will go to the Joint Normalization Committee before returning to the panels for final approval. Talks on revitalizing the International Monitoring Team and on putting weapons beyond use will continue separately.
The panels also adopted Resolution No. 3, series of 2026, endorsing proposed enhancements to pending bills in the 20th Congress that would create the National Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission for the Bangsamoro. Both sides agreed to formally submit the recommendations to the Senate and House of Representatives, pending a writeshop that will include the Philippine Congress-Bangsamoro Parliament Forum.
"With the political track now complete, the road before us runs through the normalization track, and the period ahead must be one of intensified implementation," Sarmiento said. "We intend to deliver that change without delay."
Iqbal said the MILF remains committed to resolving all outstanding issues. "Our task now is to finish what we started, so that the combatants who laid down their arms and the families who waited with them see the promise of normalization fulfilled in their lifetime," he said.
Both panels thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, facilitator Zulkifli, MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and the MILF Central Committee, along with OSAP Secretary Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr., Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua and OPAPRU for their continued support of the peace process.
Images: OPAPRU