THE graduation ceremony for the Bangsamoro Police Basic Recruit Course (BPBRC) Batch 2023-01 Class Alpha-Bravo “Bakas-Lipi” or ‘Bangsamoro Police, Guardian of Filipino Society’ was held in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte on Monday, April 29, 2024.
President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. participated in the ceremony along with other officials.
The 100 police graduates who completed their training are former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Police Major General Ritchie Medardo Posadas, Director of the Philippine National Police Training Institute (PNPTI), said these graduates are the first batch of PNP recruits from the MILF and MNLF to join the police force under the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the charter of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“This will be the first batch of PNP recruits coming from the MNLF and MILF.”
“The training program was carefully crafted to capacitate and transform former MILF and MNLF members into highly competent, well-disciplined, and morally upright peacekeepers and peacebuilders in the region,” according PMGen. Ritchie Medardo Posadas, Director, PNP Training Institute.
The new police graduates will be appointed as temporary patrolmen and patrolwomen based on the National Police Commission’s (NAPOLCOM) guidelines, and they will be given 15 years from joining the PNP to obtain a college degree.
This is also based on the standards set by the PNP to become permanent members of the national police force.
The new police are among the 11,000 former rebels who took the qualifying examination conducted by the NAPOLCOM on May 29, 2022.
It is noted that there are three batches of former rebels undergoing police training.
Based on the Bangsamoro Organic Law, NAPOLCOM may waive the age, height, and educational requirements to facilitate the entry of former MNLF and MILF members into the police force.
The entry of MILF and MNLF members into the PNP is provided for in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the peace agreement signed by the government and the MILF in 2014.
Comprehensive agreement paved way for a better life in Bangsamoro—Galvez
On April 29, the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro was celebrated at Camp Iranun in the Municipality of Barira, Maguindanao del Norte.
In his speech, Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. declared that the path taken by the country since the agreement was signed has noticeably changed the socioeconomic and socio-political landscape of the Bangsamoro region and other parts of Mindanao.
Galvez lauded the agreement for paving the way for a future full of hope and the promise of a better life for the Bangsamoro and all Filipinos.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. also gave his message at the event, as did BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim.
Meanwhile, flowers were offered at the Marine Warrior Memorial to honor the bravery and sacrifice of the 53 fallen marines, soldiers, and warriors during the all-out war in 2000, known as the Central Mindanao Campaign.
The Comprehensive Agreement is the deal between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
It outlines the form of the Bangsamoro as a political entity that replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and a symbol of the end of decades-long conflict in the Bangsamoro region.
