Cotabato City mayor tries gangland tack vs criminals

COTABATO CITY — This city’s rebel-turned-mayor announced yesterday the start of his "gangland style" campaign to fight criminals, warning that he might employ "extra-legal means" to end bomb attacks, drug trafficking, extortion and kidnappings.

Mayor Muslimin Sema, secretary-general of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), issued the warning on the heels of two bomb attacks last week that left 11 people, including three soldiers, wounded.

Since December, 23 people, including city councilor Alexis Costales, have been killed by suspected guns-for-hire. The slayings have remained unsolved.

But Sema, chairman of the Regional Development Council, said he still has to rely on the support of the city’s 37 barangay councils and various sectors to succeed in ridding the city of criminal elements.

At least 10 drug syndicates operate in barangays here, Army and police sources said.

"It took me a long time of reflection and consultation with the police and military authorities before making this decision. I have personally informed President Arroyo about this," Sema said in a statement.

The sudden shift in Sema’s stand in dealing with criminals was greeted with pledges of support from various sectors.

Members of the Chinese-Filipino community assured Sema, known for his peaceful strategies in handling local security problems in the past, that they will help encourage their employees to cooperate with the city government’s new strategy in fighting criminality.

"This is something that we have to support for us to have tranquility in this city of culturally diverse people," said trader Oscar Tan-Abing, a member of the local Chinese-Filipino chamber of commerce and president of the association of grocery store owners here.

Since 1990, a total of 154 people, mostly Chinese-Filipino traders, have been kidnapped here and in nearby provinces.