By Edwin Fernandez/PNA
COTABATO CITY — Local officials of Maguindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Thursday vowed to support a joint security plan of the Army and the police in the region.
This, after the 6th Infantry Division (ID), which covers two of five ARMM provinces, and the ARMM police regional office, came up with an implementation plan to ensure that its areas of jurisdiction are safe from bombings and terrorism.
Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu said his office will help the police and the military attain the objectives of the Army-police joint undertaking, which is aimed at primarily at ending violent extremism in Maguindanao and part of Lanao del Sur.
The police, represented by Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares and the Army, led by Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6th ID chief, recently signed the joint undertaking to minimize, if not totally stop the bombings perpetrated by Islamic State-linked terrorist organizations.
“The main objective is to stop all these violence,” Mijares and Sobejana separately said after the signing of the Implementation Plan (Implan) at the 6th ID officers’ club last week.
Mangudadatu assured Sobejana and Mijares that the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council, which he chairs, will assist in all ways it can to attain the objectives of the Implan.
“We are all for peace, we want our people to live peacefully, that is our common goal and we are one with our state forces,” Mangudadatu said.
Under the Implan, both the police and the military will take measures to restrain terrorist groups like the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Maute terrorist organization and Ansar al-Khilafa Philippines, all linked with the ISIS, from carrying out their violent activities.
Both Sobejana and Mijares appealed to all local officials in their areas of jurisdiction to help the campaign against violent extremism.
Similarly, ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said Wednesday he has ordered the regional local government department to coordinate with law enforcers in helping attain the Implan objectives.
“We are one with our military and police in this initiative,” Hataman said in a statement.
