Manila: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has designated Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento as chairperson of the Government Peace Implementing Panel (GPIP) for the Bangsamoro peace process. Palace Press Officer Claire Castro announced this appointment during a press briefing held in Malaca±ang.
According to Philippines News Agency, Sarmiento will oversee the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). This landmark 2014 peace accord ended decades of armed conflict in Mindanao and facilitated the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Sarmiento, who previously served as interior secretary, was appointed as Marcos' peace adviser in April. His appointment fills a critical position, which the MILF had urged to be permanently filled after it announced a 'temporary pause' in formal engagements in the peace process until the government named a full-fledged chair for its implementing panel.
The GPIP acts as the government's counterpart to the MILF Peace Implementing Panel led by Mohagher Iqbal, who has chaired the MILF panel since 2016. Unlike the peace negotiating panels that formulated the CAB, the implementing panels are tasked with overseeing the fulfillment of remaining commitments under the agreement. These commitments include normalization, decommissioning of former MILF combatants, transitional justice, reconciliation, and socioeconomic development, along with other measures aimed at securing lasting peace in the Bangsamoro.
Sarmiento's appointment marks him as the sixth government chair of the implementing panel in the past decade. The government and MILF implementing panels are set to celebrate their 10th anniversary on July 21. This appointment also comes less than two months before the inaugural Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections on September 14, during which voters will elect the first 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament. The elected officials are scheduled to be sworn in on October 30, which will formally conclude the BARMM's extended transition government and initiate its first regular parliamentary administration.
