Manila, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Secretary Mel Sarmiento as Chairperson of the Government Peace Implementing Panel for the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro confirmed Sarmiento’s appointment.
With this role, Sarmiento is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) with the MILF—a peace accord that ended decades of conflict in Mindanao and paved the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Sarmiento is a former Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) who was appointed as the head of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) last April.
This government peace panel will serve as the counterpart to the MILF Peace Implementing Panel led by Mohagher Iqbal, who has served as chair since the panel’s formation in 2016.
Sarmiento’s appointment comes two months before the inaugural BARMM parliamentary elections scheduled for September 14.—Alvin Pelobello, Eurotv News