Military debunks report on ARMM violence

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Security officials yesterday debunked claims by International Alert Philippines (IAP) that Maguindanao accounts for most of the recorded cases of violence in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), said military unit leaders in Maguindanao were amazed by IAP’s claim that political violence in the province had resulted in the death of 862 people from 2011 to 2013.

An IAP report said  political violence in the province during this period had also left 973 people wounded and 58 missing or kidnapped, while some 22,433 families were displaced.

“I don’t know where those statistics came. We had peaceful elections in 2010 and in 2013 and foreign investors have been putting up banana and oil palm plantations in Maguindanao since early 2011,” Hermoso said.

He admitted there were attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the past two years, but the combined numbers of fatalities from the military, BIFF and the civilians did not reach 862.

Chief Superintendent Robert Kiunisala, deputy director for administration of the ARMM police said the IAP’s report was debatable.

“The report should have stated the names of the victims - those who were allegedly killed or kidnapped, or went missing,” Kiunisala said.