Troops, groups secure ARMM from intruders

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Security has been tight since Monday in the 32-hectare compound here of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as part of the measures to prevent any intrusion by renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front.

ARMM officials told The Star, however, that they are more apprehensive of “third party saboteurs” that could disturb the  peace inside the fenced regional government center, and not with local MNLF forces under the group of former Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema.

Abdulrashid Ladayo, security director of the Office of the Regional Governor, said they were assured by the group of Sema, the largest MNLF faction, that its forces in Central Mindanao will not participate in the hostilities that broke out between the followers of Nur Misuari and government forces in Zamboanga City.

“But just the same we are not taking chances because any `third party’ can just do something to either embarrass our local security forces, or put the `Sema group’ in bad light,” Ladayo said.

A company of soldiers from the 1st Marine Battalion, and a platoon of policemen from the ARMM police headquarters in Camp S.K. Pendatun town have established a security ring  in the regional compound, where some 50 government offices are located.

The Marines have positioned an armored V-300 combat vehicle at the entrance of the compound to deter any intrusion by potential attackers.

Ladayo said their security preparations are being closely coordinated by the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman with the Cotabato City police and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of 6th ID, which has jurisdiction over Maguindanao, where the MNLF has duly-recognized enclaves called “peace zones,” said there is no reason for the public to fear any spillover of the hostilities in Zamboanga City to Central Mindanao.

Hermoso said the 6th ID has been communicating  since Monday with Sema and  the latter's subordinate MNLF leaders on the ground as a joint effort to maintain law and order in Central Mindanao, amid the hostilities in Zamboanga City.

Hermoso said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has also been helping maintain law and order in the region through its ceasefire committee.

“There is a very cohesive security teamwork among the 6th ID, the MNLF and the MILF as far as the 6th ID’s area of responsibility is concerned,” Hermoso said.