THE Philippine National Police (PNP) in Northern Mindanao has maintained the full alert status in the region in the wake of the encounter in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao that left 43 police commandos dead.
Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., PNP-Northern Mindanao police director, assured all the police units in the region are ready for any eventuality, although confident that the region has remained relatively peaceful despite some blast incidents in Bukidnon last year.
Cruz told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro Monday that the full alert status has not been lifted since the bombing in Zamboanga City last Friday and will remain enforced due to the fierce encounter in Mamasapano in Maguindanao.
Superintendent Gervacio Balmaceda Jr., PNP-Northern Mindanao information officer, said the law enforcement efforts of the police in the region are even intensified with the incident in the village of Tukanalipao, Mamasapano where dozens of Special Action Force (SAF) were killed by the combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
The SAF members were en route to serving the warrant of arrest for Basit Usman and Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a noted international terrorist.
Balmaceda said there is a need to arrest Marwan since his expertise in bomb making could have links to the series of bombing incidents in Mindanao, including the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) of a café inside a mall complex in Cagayan de Oro in 2013, and the detonation of IEDs inside two passengers buses in two separate occasions in Bukidnon last year.
Major Christian Uy, the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID) spokesman, said the division has no troop movements yet although it is closely coordinating with the intelligence units in Central Mindanao.
Uy said 4ID commander, Major General Oscar Lactao, has ordered the conduct of preventive measures such as visibility patrols to strengthen its defense in preparation for any untoward incident.
In a radio interview Monday morning, former MILF official Eid Kabalu said the presence of various armed groups in the area has made it “complicated.”
Kabalu said the collaboration of some MILF members with the BIFF is a “reality” as the kinship factor is still strong among these people.
Saddened
Meanwhile, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp), in a statement posted on its website Monday, said it was “deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the tragic encounter.”
“We regret however that due to the involvement of other armed groups, some intermittent fighting continued. Our aim is to normalize the situation as soon as possible in order to prevent the displacement of civilians and give full swing to the humanitarian effort,” Opapp said.
It said the incident and other recent acts of violence by other armed groups manifest the diverse security challenges that confound the peace process.
“But our resolve to see through the process of legislating the Bangsamoro Basic Law and implementing the different Normalization programs, including the security components, is only further strengthened. With better cooperation we will be able to prevent these kinds of incidents,” it added.
Opapp said the objective of arresting the growth of extremist cells “lodging themselves in our interior villages and sowing indiscriminate violence remains.”