COTABATO CITY - Malaysia continues its commitment to support the government peace process in Mindanao as it deploys another contingent of Malaysian peace monitors to replace another contingent which completed its one year tour of duty on Sunday.

The new contingent replaces the outgoing team after observing for the past 12 months the enforcement of ceasefire agreement between Philippine government forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Malaysian Major Gen. Datuk Wira Zamrose Bin Mohd Zain of the Malaysian Royal Armed Forces will lead the new peace monitors called 11TH International Monitoring Team (IMT-11), replacing a team (IMT-10) led by Major Gen. Dato Sheik Mokhsin Bin Sheik Hassan.

The team is composed of representatives from Brunei and Indonesia, and civilian experts from Norway, Japan, and the European Union. It has been helping the GPH and the MILF enforce the ceasefire accord since 2003.

The agreement was signed in 1997 and with the presence of international monitors, both sides religiously obliged to the provisions of the accord, saving lives and properties.

Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) welcomed the new Malaysian peace monitors, noting the “big role” its contributions make to the over-all peace situation in the region.

ARMM is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

“This peacekeeping mission plays a very big role in keeping peace in many areas inside the autonomous region," Hataman said.

The deployment of new peace monitors came despite the non-passage of draft Bangsamoro Basic Law that will cement the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro forged in 2014 by the GPH and MILF.

Malaysia has been working as “third party facilitator” of the GPH and MILF peace process.