Palace tells LGUs in Mindanao to prepare vs threats

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Malacañang and senior defense officials met with the local government officials to prepare  against the threat of the rising group of Khilafa Islamiyah Mindanao (KIM), tagged to be behind the spate of deadly bombings the past weeks in key places in Mindanao.

Executive Secretary Pacquito Ochoa, who chairs the Anti-terror Council, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Emmanuel Bautista, and Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC) head Gen. Felizardo Serapio briefed the local executives of the current threat posed by the KIM during the closed-door briefing held in a military camp here.

All of the officials avoided media interview, but a local official revealed that what the Malacañang official and senior defense executives discussed “were very evident threats”following the spate of deadly bombing attacks that hit the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato, and Midsayap, North Cotabato the other week that killed 16 people and wounded scores of others.

Mayor Isabel Climaco-Salazar disclosed that the security leaders provided them  information about the operations of the KIM, a group of disgruntled militants but with links to the various threat groups, including the Abu Sayyaf and Muslim separatists.

“Based on their presentation, it is evident, the danger is clear,” Salazar said.

It was unclear if the group has any ideology.

“There might be an ideal they believed,  in but as to their real goal or purpose  it is not yet clear and evident,” Salazar said, basing his statement on the presentation of the group of Ochoa and Gazmin.

He added that the group is likely a  "breakaway group" of other disgruntled groups and wants  to be at the negotiating table with the government.

The local executive said based on the security briefing the new threat group can not be also branded as spoilers since it appears the group wants to be part of the negotiations.

“Now as to the action they are doing to (get the government's attention)  is beyond us, but clearly there are threats to security (here),” Salazar said.

Salazar has requested the anti-terror council of the city to hold further security summit for the Zambasulta areas (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi), Region 9, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Ochoa, Gazmin, and Bautista also flew Tuesday to Cotabato and to Davao and Cagayan de Oro cities on the following days to brief the local officials on the security preparations against the threat groups. -  Roel Pareño