The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is realigning some
of its forces to stop cross-border kidnapping perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf
Group (ASG).
Lt. Gen. Mayoralgo Dela Cruz, AFP’s Western Mindanao Command
(Westmincom) chief, disclosed that the 2nd Marine Brigade will be pulled out
from the province
of Sulu
“We will strengthen the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi, we will
deploy a regular (marine) brigade there,” Dela Cruz said.
At present, a battalion of marine troops is based in
Tawi-Tawi assisting the police forces in the maintenance of law and order in
that province.
Tawi-Tawi is the southernmost province of the Philippines sharing sea borders with Malaysia and Indonesia
Dela Cruz said three Army battalions will be deployed as a
replacement of the 2nd Marine Brigade in Sulu and will be placed under the
operational control of the Army’s 501st Infantry Brigade.
The three Army battalions are part of the six battalions of
troops the AFP will deploy to the area of Westmincom.
Dela Cruz said the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi will also
address other problems such as human trafficking and smuggling aside from the
cross-border kidnapping.
The ASG brigands are still holding captive seven Indonesian
sailors, two Europeans and six Filipinos.
The ASG brigands seized the seven Indonesian sailors in the
high seas of Indonesia on
June 22 and herded them to the province
of Sulu
There are other victims of cross border kidnapping
perpetrated by the ASG brigands but the hostages that included Indonesians and
Malaysians were already released.
The Joint Task Force Sulu is continuously conducting focused
military operations to rescue and pressure the ASG brigands to release their
hostages.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=914268
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