ZAMBOANGA CITY, Nov 18 (PIA) – Officials from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) want the national government to also heed other threat groups in the locality, and not just the communists under President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 70, or the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Executive Order 70 mandates a whole-of-nation approach, involving all agencies and instrumentalities of government to end the communist terrorist insurgency through a convergence of efforts with special emphasis on localized peace engagements and maximizing service delivery to the people.
Western Mindanao Command (WESTMINCOM) spokesperson Maj. Arvin John Encinas said the participants to an ELCAC planning workshop held in the city last week proposed for a change of name of the national task force – to remove “communist”, so as not to focus on this one threat group alone, renaming it to “Regional Task Force to End Local Armed Conflicts”.
“Participants to the workshop include commanders of joint task forces, Philippine National Police (PNP) officials, governors of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and other BARMM officials,” Maj. Encinas said.
The group proposed for the change since BARMM areas do not face only communist insurgents, but other local threat groups too. According to Westmincom, the areas face other groups including the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Daulah Islamiya (DI) and other local terrorist groups.
During the workshop, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana called for the BARMM officials’ support to the President’s call to end insurgency.
“Let us work together for us to achieve a stable, peaceful, secured, and progressive Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” he said. President Duterte designated Secretary Lorenzana as BARMM’s Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS).
Joining the workshop were Defense Undersecretary for Defense Operations Cesar Yano, Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, BARMM Public Order and Safety Minister Hussein Muñoz, Naval Forces Western Mindanao Commander Rear Adm. Erick Kagaoan, other military and police officers, and BARMM officials.
(NBE/DIS/PIA9-Zamboanga City with reports and photos from Western Mindanao Command Public Information Office)
https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1030313
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