World Bulletin / News Desk 

The Philippines’ one-time largest Moro group turned over dozens of weapons Tuesday as part of a peace process that has been threatened by a bloody botched raid and delays in passing an autonomy law.

President Benigno Aquino III and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Ebrahim Murad attended the ceremonial turnover in southern Maguindanao province where 75 high-powered and crew-served weapons were deactivated and 145 people left the group’s armed wing to return to civilian life.

Gradual decommissioning among the wing’s 10,000 estimated armed members is part of the Annex on Normalization of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which was signed by the MILF and the government in early 2014.

The CAB serves as the final peace agreement after 17 years of on-and-off and often intractable negotiations.

Aquino called the handover “historic” during a speech at Tuesday’s ceremony.

“Years ago, an armed group that had long been fighting with government laying down its arms was a pipe dream,” he said. “Our Moro brothers and sisters made a commitment, and before us is the concrete proof of their sincerity. Our brothers are voluntarily laying down their arms.”

The first phase of the decommissioning in Sultan Kudarat town saw the weapons handed over to an independent decommissioning body led by Ambassador Haydar Berk from Turkey.

MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal told reporters before the ceremony that convincing the first batch had been difficult as the move was “one step away from surrendering," Rappler reported.

The governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which a draft law stipulated by the peace process seeks to replace with a new Bangsamoro entity, called the symbolical laying down of arms "the act of peace, the show of sincerity in the peace process.”

"Beginning today, the MILF will beat swords to ploughshares as soldiers will begin to bring life to the land instead of taking from it,” Mujiv Hataman said in a statement.

“Today, mothers will begin to send their children to school again without fear, and welcome them home happily. Today, children will start learning to be children, and hope never to learn about war again."

Meanwhile, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles said they were awaiting the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the regional government’s establishment and its leaders’ election in order to accomplish full decommissioning under the CAB.

"We are happy the MILF continues to be a partner of the government in its objective to bring peace in Mindanao through the reduction of firearms in the area despite the delays in the BBL passage,” she added in a statement.

Aquino’s visit to Maguindanao is the first since he traveled to the province following the killing of 44 police commandos in a botched raid.

On Jan. 25, around 400 commandos descended on Mamasapano township in search of two of Southeast Asia’s top terror suspects, only to run into members of the MILF and splinter group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The involvement of the MILF had threatened to derail the peace process in the southern island of Mindanao.

The BIFF was set up in 2008 due to disapproval for what its followers saw as the MILF’s acceptance of autonomy rather than full independence for Muslims in the country's south.

The MILF’s normalization process has three main components — security, socioeconomic development, and transitional justice and reconciliation.

All are aimed at fostering peace in conflict-affected communities in the southern Philippines area of Mindanao, with the purpose of then allowing individuals to pursue productive and sustainable livelihoods without fear of violence or crime.