MILF offers to secure Cotabato City against possible attacks
DAVAO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Monday offered to secure Cotabato City in the wake of reports that armed men were planning to attack the city that was rocked by an explosion on New Year’s Eve that killed two people and wounded 30 others.
Von Al Haq, spokesperson for the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the MILF’s armed wing, made the offer as he appealed for calm amid social media reports that gunmen would sow chaos in Cotabato City.
He called the reports “fake news,” saying these were spread by people hired by a group opposing the inclusion of Cotabato City in the new Bangsamoro region that would be created after the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
“The MILF’s BIAF is ready to provide even a battalion of fighters to help secure the peripheries of Cotabato City should the proper government agencies request for augmentation,” he told the Inquirer by telephone.
Request
Al Haq was referring to either the military or the police, which, he said, could make the request through the coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, one of the mechanisms in the peace process between the MILF and the government.
During the Marawi siege in 2017, the MILF ordered its troops to stand guard in the peripheries against terrorists escaping from the city, he said.
For the plebiscite to ratify the BOL, the MILF wants peace and order to reign during the exercise, particularly in Cotabato City that has been serving as seat of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for the last 28 years, Al Haq said.
The BOL, which is anchored on the final peace agreement between the government and the MILF that was signed in 2014, seeks to establish the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to replace the ARMM.
The Commission on Elections has scheduled the plebiscite on Jan. 21 and Feb. 6.
Cotabato twice rejected its inclusion in the ARMM, and its mayor, Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, had said the city “would do the same in the upcoming plebiscite.” —Bong Sarmiento
