Piñol sees agri development in former MILF camp

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Alert up vs. foreign terror cells

BULUAN, Maguindanao --- Government forces in Central Mindanao are on alert following intelligence reports indicating that foreign jihadists have entered the region.

Maj. Gen. CirilitoSobejana, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division  and military led-Joint Task Force Central (JTF Central), cited an intelligence report showing that about 30 to 40 foreign terrorists may have set foot in the provinces under the 6thID's area of jurisdiction.

Sobejana bared this during the Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting here last January 30, adding that the foreign terrorists could have merged with local terror groups operating in Maguindanao, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat. 

The 6thID covers the provinces of Maguindanao, part of Lanaodel Sur, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat.

“The Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) operates in these provinces. The group is behind the series of bombings in the region,” Sobejana said.

Earlier, Defense Secretary DelfinLorenzana said suicide bombers could have carried out the Jolo cathedral bombing last January 27.

Lorenzana noted that body parts left at the blast site remain unclaimed at an Army morgue in Jolo and an indication it was the body of a suicide bomber.

Sobejana said the report about the possible entry of foreign terrorists in Mindanao was a big challenge for security forces and that the public has a crucial role to play in preventing violent extremism.

Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, whose province is a known lair of the BIFF, vowed to help the Army locate the “peace spoilers.”

“There should be no place for these terrorists in Maguindanao,” Mangudadatu said. (Edwin Fernandez / PNA– Cotabato / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

Editorial

Beware of anti-religious and terror mongerers

Bomb threats are already scary and how much more if these really occur as there had been actual explosions in different areas in Mindanao, resulting to casualties and fatalities. Could there be more… God forbids for we want peace and tranquility to always reign.

There was sort of a hunch that the January 27 twin blasts at Our Lady  of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu would be followed by another blast… there was one inside the mosque in Zamboanga City last January 30. Are these two separate bombings intended to create a divide and hatred or conflict between and among religious groups? Religious leaders and government authorities dismiss the view or speculation of religious undertone,  surmising that the dastardly bombings are meant to sow terror.Muslim religious leaders dislodge the idea of religious retaliation, pointing on terrorism and extremism as the culprit of the saddening events to create fear, horror, and doubts among ethnic groups.

Both Muslims and Christians have co-existed for long in different parts of Mindanao. Muslim Filipinos feel secure in Christian-dominated communities and so do the Christian counterparts in Muslim-dominated habitats such as in Sulu Archipelago and the geographical setting in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which will soon be carved as the new Bangsamoro region following the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law. We stand witness to religious toleration and respect in southern Philippines. Conflict here is not attributed to religion and we pray this character of religious toleration is ever maintained.

Be as this may, both Muslim and Christian believers have to remain vigilant against threats aimed at dislodging religious respect and tolerance… let us not allow ourselves to be intimidated in anyway by the acts of a third force that tend to undermine the unity of a people. Islam means peace and so does Christianity. Is there a religion that teaches hate and vengeance? There could be declared a jihad or crusade if one religion is being suppressed... but in our setting, there is no religious suppression, only cultural solidarity that promotes peace, elusive as it may seem because of some evil ends.

We stand by our faith because we believe in spiritedness and religiosity. We have to embrace as one in the fight against divisiveness and acts of terrorism. Only a united people can fear be subdued. Let us stand to reason and not heed to mongerers of religious uprising for we fall as losers. Religion is part of culture and this binds people together. When Muslims and Christians go to places of worship, they pray for peace.

People with rationality and Godliness respect religious beliefs and affiliations. And curse be on those who undermine religious solidarity for they lose their souls and are cast away.

Editorial

Stopping terror, pursuing peace remain: Top agenda

Words of sympathy are not enough to condole the bereaved families of those who perished in the twin blasts at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu last February 27 as the faithful heard mass that ill-fated day. The nation and international community joined in mourning as statements of condemnation poured against the perpetrators, whom authorities identifywith the local terror group. Even Pope Francis said the bombing was an act of terror as he prayed for the evil doers to change ways toward respect to life. The attack on the cathedral was not the first.

        The tragic event came after the people in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, including Cotabato City, have ratified the Bangsamoro Organic Law that will establish a more powerful and functional Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, replacing the ARMM. The twin bombings though are not associated with the BOL but rather motivated by evil ends so as to spoil the peace and security of the region, so authorities surmise.

        Experts and analysts say it would be a real challenge for the new Bangsamoro regional government to put an end on terrorism and secure the populace from harm and to further advance economic investments for geographical development. It has to persuade the splinter and other radical/extremist groups to lay down their arms and heed to the call for peace and oneness as a people. It has to contain the terror groups from pursuing secessionisticor belligerent paradigm… for after all, the BOL is born for the sake of peace. After decades of fighting, both the Moro National Liberation Front and Moro Islamic Liberation Front have leaned on political solution to end conflict… but some comrades splintered into groups defying the new order or peace deal.

        Indeed, the quest for peace and political-economic stability in our region remain a challenge. This is so in other lands beset by terrorism and twisted paradigm of change. Our government has yet to deal with insurgency in other regions --- the communist movement. Pursuing peace is top agenda… this is our continuing agenda --- for you and for me.

        The MILF-led BARMM is now faced with this challenge. We likewise share this challenge since public support is a matter of necessity for positive change and regional growth.

Editorial

Stakes in the BOL

        Stakeholders in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, including those in Cotabato City and Isabela City in Basilan province, have spoken through the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law last January 21 that would pave way for the establishment of a new political entity --- the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao --- to replace the ARMM.

        By this time, barring the failure of political exercise, the “yes” and “no” votes to the BOL could have been tallied for stakeholders to know the territories of inclusion under the BARMM. The second plebiscite will be on February 6 in LanaodelNorte, excluding Iligan City, and other areas where there were petitions for BARMM inclusion.

        The January 21 plebiscite was another historical account in our political landscape. The BOL, formerly the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, is a product of peace negotiation(s) between and among the national government, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and stakeholders. The BOL and the BARMM are supposed to end the armed strife in the Bangsamoro homeland so to spur development in the region through a stronger autonomous political entity  with provision of “block grant” for the next 10 years.

        To ensure the peace, another phase would follow, the complete decommissioning of the MILF’s armory and then the civilian stature of the Front. With this in place, MILF territories or camps become civilian communities some of which have been beneficiaries of both government and support donor-country development assistance to keep the peace program at pace and continuing.

        To note, the government and Moro National Liberation Front under NurMisuari had already inked a peace pact in the 1990s with the ARMM as the political arm for governance. The original Front is also a stakeholder in the BOL.

        We have yet to wait the result of the BOL plebiscite in LanaodelNorte and other inclusion areas before the transition Bangsamoro regional government would be established. The regular elections in the BARMM, should it be finally established, will be in 2022 with a parliamentary-democratic form of government, which could be a model for the proposed Federalism.

        Many ask, though, if the BOL and BARMM would finally set lasting peace. There are still armed splintered groups opposing the GRP-MILF peace deal and these peace spoilers continue to create disturbance. It will be a big challenge for the government and MILF to convince these splinter groups  to come to the fold of law so to normalize political and economic affairs in the Bangsamoro region.

        So to speak, we await the series of changes at the aftermath of the BOL plebiscite. PEACE and DEVELOPMENT are the bottom-line here.