Over 2,000 apprehended for violation of ordinances in central Mindanao

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — The police’s elite Regional Mobile Force Battalion-12 apprehended close to 2,000 violators of domestic ordinances in central Mindanao in the past three months.

Superintendent Aldrin Gonzalez, information officer of the Police Regional Office-12, said Saturday the RFMB-12 had also impounded more than 200 vehicles with questionable documents during the period.

The RFMB-12, a combat-ready rapid deployment unit of PRO-12, is credited for its contribution to the Philippine National Police’s anti-terror campaign in central Mindanao.

Its personnel were involved in operations in previous years that resulted in the arrest of key members of the Ansa’r Al-Khilafa Philippines, which uses the black Islamic State flag as revolutionary banner.

The RFMB-12 provided support to an operation that neutralized the group’s radical leader, Jaafar Sabewang Maguid, a radical cleric.

He was killed about two years ago by police teams that tried to arrest him peacefully in Barangay Katubao in Kiamba town in Sarangani province, but killed him instead for provoking a gunfight

Members of the RFMB-12 had also arrested, in a continuing operation since early this year, 176 persons with warrants for various criminal offenses issued by local courts.

They have neutralized lately 24 suspects in anti-drug operations that led to the recovery of P6.2 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as “shabu.”

Gonzalez, citing a report from the commanding officer of RMFB-12, Superintendent Maximo Sebastian, said the unit’s law enforcement activities are also focused on preventing the proliferation of loose firearms and circulation of narcotics in far-flung areas.

“The RFMB-12 has a key role in all of PRO-12’s security initiatives, including the `Oplan Mapayapa,’ which is being enforced in Region 12,” Gonzalez said.

The Oplan Mapayapa is an extensive police anti-crime drive in the provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and in the cities of General Santos, Kidapawan, Tacurong, Koronadal and Cotabato.

Gonzalez said the achievements of the RFMB-12 in recent weeks could be partly attributed to the support of the local communities to its law enforcement activities.

In a report, Sebastian said they have apprehended and lectured more than 2,000 violators of provincial and municipal ordinances in central Mindanao in the past 60 days in support of the law-enforcement thrusts of local government units.

Gonzalez said the RFMB-12 had also extended tactical support to law enforcement operations of other government agencies, including the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

He said its personnel had uprooted 3,376 fully-grown Marijuana plants in recent raids assisted by local officials in different towns in Region 12.

“The RFMB-12 also seized 178 unlicensed firearms from local residents in operations initiated in past months,” Gonzalez said.