Better LGU, Army coordination sought to repel bandits' attack

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - The provincial government and the Army’s 602nd Brigade will strengthen their  cooperation in addressing security threats from the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Brig. Gen. Ademar Tomaro, commanding officer of the 602nd Brigade, said among the focus of the security cooperation between them and the office of North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza is the safety of power relay installations and secluded stretches of highways in the province.

Tomaro said the governor committed to provide the brigade with periodic updates on security situation in potential flashpoint areas based on validated information from local government units in North Cotabato’s 17 towns and in Kidapawan City, the provincial capital.

“We’re glad Gov. Mendoza assured to help us in detecting unusual movements of armed groups present in our AOR (area of responsibility). We in the military will hardly succeed in pre-empting their (lawless elements) hostile actions without the help of LGUs,” Tomaro said.

Tomaro and Mendoza, chairperson of the provincial peace and order council (PPOC), both acknowledged, during a security conference at the capitol in Kidapawan City last week, that the BIFF is now the most serious threat to the safety of local communities.

Tomaro, however, said the continuing cooperation between the 602nd Brigade and the PPOC can help forestall attacks by the BIFF.

Tomaro cited as example how local officials and the military helped each other drive away the bandits that simultaneously attacked two weeks ago five farming enclaves in Midsayap town and how soldiers prevented them from getting close to a stretch of a highway connecting the municipalities of Mlang and Matalam three days later.

Tomaro said he is grateful to the PPOC for its speedy resolution, through an inter-agency convergence approach, of the recent security constraints that caused dislocation of villagers in North Cotabato’s Midsayap and Mlang towns.

Tomaro said Mendoza had asked the 602nd Brigade to tighten security in areas where infrastructure and community-building projects are underway.

“The governor’s instruction is for us to coordinate all of our security efforts with the ceasefire committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in keeping with the government’s ceasefire accord with the MILF,” Tomaro said.

The government’s chief negotiator with the MILF, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, has condemned the BIFF’s recent incursions in Maguindanao and North Cotabato.

Ferrer, in a statement emailed just before Tuesday’s start of the 41st GPH-MILF exploratory talks in Malaysia, said civilians suffer the most from the atrocities committed by the group.

The GPH peace panel had recorded 48 BIFF attacks in Central Mindanao from July to September this year alone.

Thousands of villagers, about 90 percent of them ethnic Maguindanaon Muslims, were affected by the attacks the BIFF perpetrated during the period.

Ferrer said the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police both have the discretion on how to deal with the BIFF, but in close coordination with the MILF’s ceasefire committee.

Ferrer said the BIFF is not protected by any of the preliminary security agreements between the government and the MILF that are meant to prevent undue hostilities between rebel and government forces while the peace talks are underway.  - John Unson