Good morning.

We thank the United Arab Emirates, United States and Hedayah for organizing this side event. It is of much value to the Philippines, as the threat and complex issues posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) is a major policy priority for us.

Since the rise of the FTFs phenomena, our efforts have been hampered by the lack of a legal framework to prosecute FTFs. With the passage of the 2020 Anti-Terrorism Act, we now have that in place. Last year we also adopted a National Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (NAP P/CVE). To us, counter-terrorism strategies go hand-in-hand with P/CVE.

While we see wisdom in the repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of FTFs, we currently do not have a mechanism in place for receiving and de-processing returning Filipino FTFs and their families. Our Anti-Terrorism Council is working on this. In the crafting of a coherent policy or procedure for this, we need to consider the security, legal, political and social challenges FTFs pose.  

Our NAP-P/CVE provides for rehabilitation, reintegration and development programs, including values formation, for former combatants and their families. However these are still at the incipient stage and their specific application is still in development.

We welcome in this regard the Blueprint[1] presented by Hedayah. By providing practical guidance in establishing, operationalizing and implementing a rehabilitation and reintegration center, it helps Member States like us build our capacity and knowledge base. Thank you.