MILITARY and police authorities in Zamboanga Peninsula are continuously monitoring the whereabouts and activities of 96 Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) members, who were recently ordered released from Taguig jail by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 158 in Pasay City.

Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said Western Mindanao Command Chief Arnel dela Vega made the assurance on Friday during the regular quarterly meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), following concerns by local government units that the presence of released MNLFs might bolster earlier attempts by certain forces to establish camps in areas they claim their communities like in this city.

“We are not to be complacent. First, we profiled them then monitor their whereabouts and render progress reports of their activities to prevent them do unlawful act,” Salazar on Monday quoted Dela Vega as saying.

“They are welcomed to places they wish to go to and live there as residents but never for them to establish their camps,” Dela Vega told RPOC chaired by Salazar, who raised the issue on the release of MNLFs accused of involvement in the 2013 Zamboanga siege.

Dela Verga further said under the peace agreement the MNLF and/or the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) are not authorized to set up camps in Zamboanga City and other localities outside their recognized territories in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)