CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Moro Consensus Group (MCG), a Maranao civil society organization, joined government officials in condemning the killing of five agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM).
The agents attended on Friday an anti-drug symposium with former drug dependents in Tagoloan II in Lanao del Sur and they were on their way to Marawi City when ambushed in Barangay Malna in Kapai.
READ: 5 PDEA agents dead in ambush in Lanao del Sur
“Our group strongly [condemns] the killings of PDEA agents in Kapai LDS,” Drieza Lininding, MCG chairperson, said in a statement he posted on social media over the weekend.
MCG was organized in 2017 at the height of the Marawi siege. It has been very vocal against the government’s military offensive and the post-conflict rehabilitation efforts in the besieged city.
Lininding said MCG members would not want this incident to be used by “hawkish officials” in the government to justify the extension of martial law in Mindanao.
He said PDEA and other government authorities should not “travel lightly” when they move around Lanao del Sur, adding that they must first coordinate with local government units in the area and to observe ceasefire mechanisms when traveling to far-flung destinations.
“We must bear in mind that hundreds if not thousands of Meranaws were killed during Marawi siege,” including those who fell victims to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
“We cannot control their [the victims’] relatives,” Lininding added.
Meanwhile, Lanao del Sur Gov. Bejoria Soraya Adiong urged the law enforcers to conduct a full investigation of the ambush.
“I call on the Philippine National Police to make a swift and thorough investigation on this incident. I am confident the local government of Kapai, Lanao del Sur will fully cooperate with the PNP to bring justice to the victims and their families,” Adiong said in a statement relayed to the media on Saturday.
on the request of PDEA, the provincial health office provided vehicles to retrieve the bodies of the killed agents and bring them back to Cotabato City on Friday night.
Adiong said Brig. Gen. Ramiro Rey, commander of Joint Task Force Ranao, had deployed some troops to accompany the retrieval team to ensure their safety.
“The Provincial government of Lanao del Sur fully condemns this criminal act and we ask the authorities that the perpetrators immediately face the consequences of their action,” she added.
PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino has also issued a statement condemning the deaths of the anti-narcotics operatives.
“This act of inhumanity and cowardice, taking the lives of our comrades in a surprise attack, will not just pass as another common incident in our day-to-day operation on the fight against illegal drugs,” Aquino said.
In an interview on Saturday, Aquino said three drug groups could be behind the ambush. /atm