ARMM regional aseembly to probe on BIFM attacks
COTABATO CITY, Philippines– The 27-member Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will conduct an inquiry on last week’s attacks by bandits in Maguindanao and look into its long-term implications to the Southern peace process and the ARMM’s reform agenda.
The central leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front already asked the national government to flex its muscles and neutralize the BIFM, led by radical jihadists booted out from the MILF due to abuses and insubordination.
Members of the ARMM’s law-making body, dubbed as the “little Congress” of the region, announced here Tuesday that they are also to help determine possible peaceful measures that can stave off any repeat of the BIFM’s violent attacks.
Peace activists, some of them involved in various foreign-assisted projects, said concerned agencies and foreign donors should focus on immediate interventions meant to rebuild the communities affected by the conflict, particularly those that dwell in the mountains at the western side of the conflict-stricken Datu Saudi, Datu Unsay Shariff Aguak and Guindulungan towns.
Major Gen. Rey Ardo, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said there is an urgent need for the construction of farm-to-market roads connecting the affected hinterland communities to trading centers of the five municipalities the BIFM attacked last week.
Ardo said the BIFM used the area’s underdevelopment and poverty to obscure its setting up of enclaves there and run a shadow government that imposed a Taliban-style justice system.
Aveen Acuña-Gulo, manager of the foreign-supported Indigenous People’s Development Project, said projects meant to empower the displaced natives in the former BIFM strongholds have to directly involve the local communities.
“These projects must be culture-sensitive and must not dislodge the natives due to what we call `development aggression’ which causes more troubles in the communities,” said Gulo, whose office is jointly bankrolled by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Germany.
Acting Governor Mujiv Hataman said the ARMM’s regional peace and order council was elated with the military’sreopening of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos City Highway BIFM bandits occupied for four days last week.
The ARMM governor also commended the 1st Mechanized Brigade under Army Col. Mayoralgo de la Cruz, and the Army’s 601st Brigade, led by Col. Edmundo Pangilinan, for the liberation of the BIFM’s two major hilltop enclaves on mountains overlooking the five towns the group repeatedly harassed from August 5 to 11.
Hataman said it was also vital to the greater interest of the local public that the BIFM gave up the camps so that sections of the highway the rebels occupied will again be safe.
The central leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front already asked the national government to flex its muscles and neutralize the BIFM, led by radical jihadists booted out from the MILF due to abuses and insubordination.
Members of the ARMM’s law-making body, dubbed as the “little Congress” of the region, announced here Tuesday that they are also to help determine possible peaceful measures that can stave off any repeat of the BIFM’s violent attacks.
Peace activists, some of them involved in various foreign-assisted projects, said concerned agencies and foreign donors should focus on immediate interventions meant to rebuild the communities affected by the conflict, particularly those that dwell in the mountains at the western side of the conflict-stricken Datu Saudi, Datu Unsay Shariff Aguak and Guindulungan towns.
Major Gen. Rey Ardo, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said there is an urgent need for the construction of farm-to-market roads connecting the affected hinterland communities to trading centers of the five municipalities the BIFM attacked last week.
Ardo said the BIFM used the area’s underdevelopment and poverty to obscure its setting up of enclaves there and run a shadow government that imposed a Taliban-style justice system.
Aveen Acuña-Gulo, manager of the foreign-supported Indigenous People’s Development Project, said projects meant to empower the displaced natives in the former BIFM strongholds have to directly involve the local communities.
“These projects must be culture-sensitive and must not dislodge the natives due to what we call `development aggression’ which causes more troubles in the communities,” said Gulo, whose office is jointly bankrolled by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Germany.
Acting Governor Mujiv Hataman said the ARMM’s regional peace and order council was elated with the military’sreopening of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos City Highway BIFM bandits occupied for four days last week.
The ARMM governor also commended the 1st Mechanized Brigade under Army Col. Mayoralgo de la Cruz, and the Army’s 601st Brigade, led by Col. Edmundo Pangilinan, for the liberation of the BIFM’s two major hilltop enclaves on mountains overlooking the five towns the group repeatedly harassed from August 5 to 11.
Hataman said it was also vital to the greater interest of the local public that the BIFM gave up the camps so that sections of the highway the rebels occupied will again be safe.
from:
John Felix Miciano Unson
journjohn
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