COTABATO CITY–The Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion (SFB) here has strengthened its riverine patrols in three major tributaries crisscrossing the city in order to fortify its internal security set-up against lawless groups.
On Sunday, members of the 5th SFB aboard speedboats, combed the channels of Rio Grande de Mindanao, Tamontaka and Matampay rivers to thwart plans of criminals and Islamic militants on launching attacks to the city, said Lt. Col. James Uri, 5th SFB commander.
“All of these are just precautionary measures to further secure the city,” Uri told local reporters in an interview.
The 5th SFB is currently augmenting the 300-man city police force in securing the city, particularly the waterways traversing the locality.
He said that among the three waterways, extra monitoring is focused on Rio Grande de Mindanao, being the largest and longest river in Mindanao with the estimated length of 182 kilometers and 96 meters in width.
Early on, authorities have also set up five guarded boat docks in the city’s riverside Bucana, Matampay, Tamontaka, Kalanganan and Timako areas here with boats, big and small alike, tagged with numbers for identification as they cruise the waterways as part of the security initiative.
An inter-agency law enforcement group, aptly called Task Force Kutawato, composed of military, police and local force multipliers, is also acting in coordination to make the city safe for its constituents.
The city, which has 37 villages, serves as catch basin for water coming from the 220,000-hectare Liguasan marshland situated in the borders of Bukidnon, North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces.
Last week, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division sponsored a forum on countering violent extremism at the Shariff Kabunsuan Complex, the provisional seat of government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao situated in this city, with known security analyst Dr. Rommel Banlaoi as main speaker. (PNA)
