Marines, Army, LGUs maintain peace in Bangsamoro communities

COTABATO CITY — The Philippine Marines and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division on Wednesday once again committed to cooperate on projects complementing the peacebuilding activities of local officials in parts of Maguindanao del Norte and in Cotabato City.

The commandant of the Navy’s Philippine Marine Corps, Major Gen. Arturo Rojas, on Wednesday visited the 6th ID’s headquarters in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte, where he and the commander of the division, Army Major Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, talked about intensifying their efforts to sustain the peace and improving business climate now in areas in their shared territories.

Cotabato City, only about eight kilometers from Camp Siongco, is the capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, covering Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The 1st Marine Brigade has units securing several towns in Maguindanao del Norte and all of the 37 barangays in Cotabato City. Marine units in both areas are under 6th ID’s operational control.

“We will maximize our support to efforts of the local government units to keep the peace now spreading around these areas, which is a result of the common peace initiatives of the Moro, non-Moro and indigenous communities and their local executives," Nafarrete said on Thursday.

Units of 6th ID and the 1st Marine Brigade have settled in the past three years a number of bloody family feuds, called “rido” in the Maguindanaon, Maranao and Iranun vernaculars, involving Moro clans in Maguindanao del Norte.

Marine and Army officials and local executives in the province had also worked out the surrender, via backchannel dialogues of more than 50 members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Dawlah Islamiya, both known for fomenting hatred for non-Muslims, since 2020.