Road projects in Basilan, like this one connecting Mebak and Bohe Languyan, are potential targets of the Abu Sayyaf. John Unson
Residents in Al-Barka, Basilan want more troops to protect local infrastructure projects that the Abu Sayyaf opposes.
The 16 barangays in Al-Barka have been scenes of deadly clashes between the military and the Abu Sayyaf in recent years.
Al-Barka Mayor Darussalam Lajid said on Sunday that while the presence of the Abu Sayyaf in the municipality had been weakened in recent months due to interventions by agencies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the military, bandits are still capable of attacks to disrupt ongoing projects.
Lajid said the Abu Sayyaf is opposed to big-ticket government infrastructure projects that can provide economic empowerment to local sectors and weaken its influence in impoverished areas where its members are holding out.
Thousands of Al-Barka residents displaced by conflicts in past years returned to their barangays in 2016 through the efforts of local officials and ARMM’s inter-agency regional peace and order council.
“The infrastructure projects implemented in Al-Barka from 2012 up ushered in improvements in our domestic security situation and the local economy. That is what misguided extremists do not want,” Lajid said in accented Filipino.
Barangay leaders urged the Zamboanga City-based Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to tighten security in the municipality after officials launched last week P10 million in projects designed to address poverty and underdevelopment in Al-Barka.
The March 27 groundbreaking rite for the projects under the ARMM Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Governance Synergy in Barangay Macalang was led by Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman, Maj. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr. of AFP’s Westmincom and Malaysian Army Gen. Masrani Paiman of the International Monitoring Team.
The Malaysian-led peacekeeping team, comprised of soldiers and police from Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia and non-uniformed conflict resolution experts from Japan, Norway and the European Union, is helping enforce in Basilan and other provinces in Mindanao the 1997 interim ceasefire pact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Hundreds of MILF guerrillas helped units of Westmincom drive away Abu Sayyaf rebels from Al-Barka in recent joint operations assisted by local officials and volunteers from the Moro National Liberation Front.
The launching of new socioeconomic and humanitarian projects in Al-Barka last March 27 was also attended by Basilan Gov. Jim Hataman and members of the league of mayors in the island province.
The event was capped off with the conduct in Barangay Macalang of the ARMM “People’s Day,” where health and social workers from the regional government provided free medical and relief services to no fewer than 3,000 villagers who had suffered from the impunity of the Abu Sayyaf.
Lajid said it was in 2012 when the ARMM government started allocating huge infrastructure grants for Al-Barka.
Records obtained from the office of engineer Don Loong, ARMM’s Public Works secretary, indicated that P877 million in projects has been allocated for Al-Barka from 2012 to 2017 in separate allocations drawn from the region’s yearly infrastructure subsidy.
“All of the projects implemented in my municipality were religiously implemented. The impact of these projects to the lives of my constituents is now being felt,” Lajid said.
The Abu Sayyaf had thrice attempted to kill Basilan’s district engineer, Soler Undug, using improvised explosive devices as part of a ploy to derail the implementation of infrastructure projects in far-flung areas in the island’s 11 towns and in its capital, Lamitan City.
Galvez, who had served as commander of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade in Basilan while still a colonel, said the Abu Sayyaf is good at using poverty and underdevelopment to stoke public animosity towards the government.
“Now they are losing ground gradually because of the infrastructure projects implemented in Basilan in the past four years. There are more projects now in the pipeline and we will provide security support to ensure that these terrorists cannot get close to the project sites,” Galvez said.
Galvez said he is grateful to the MILF for its continuing support to the military’s continuing effort to clear Al-Barka of Abu Sayyaf bandits.
The government and the MILF are bound by the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities to cooperate in addressing peace and security issues in conflict flashpoint areas in Southern Mindanao.
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