COTABATO CITY— Officials have declared Isabela City in Basilan fully cleared of the Abu Sayyaf terror group's presence, a result of various peace initiatives.
Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade in Basilan, told reporters in Cotabato City via Facebook Messenger on Sunday, October 6, that credit for the feat should go to the Isabela City Peace and Order Council and the administration of Basilan Gov. Hadjiman Salliman.
The multi-sector, inter-agency Isabela City peace and security council, led by Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, has members from the local Muslim and Christian religious communities.
Luzon, local leaders led by Turabin-Hataman and her spouse, Basilan Congressman Mujiv Hataman, and Army Brig. Gen. Leonardo Peña, who is commander of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Orion, together officiated last week the symbolic declaration of Isabela City as “Abu Sayyaf free,” meaning totally liberated from the presence of the group.
Units of the 101st Infantry Brigade, the Basilan Provincial Police Office, Salliman and his constituent-mayors in the province had earlier declared all of the 11 towns in the province and its second city, Lamitan, which has 45 barangays, Abu Sayyaf-free.