AFP to beef up forces in Sulu; hopes to turn place around

Lt Col Harold “Harry” M Cabunoc (Inf) PA. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Armed Forces of the Philippines would send more troops to Sulu in hopes of changing the landscape in the conflict-stricken province, an official said Wednesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Harold Cabunoc, AFP Public Affairs Office Chief, said that the additional troops would augment the two brigades that are stationed in the province and would conduct military and civil military operations (CMO) in Sulu in an attempt to quell the Abu Sayyaf group.

Cabunoc added that the CMO would be under the Salaam concept, which means “peace” in Arabic.

“Salaam is peace,” he said.

The AFP’s CMO programs would target the root causes, specifically the education system in the province.

“Students and teachers are afraid of soldiers because for so many years there has been combat,” Cabunoc said. “Now we would go to the root cause of it all.”

Under Salaam, the soldiers would engage the people with groups composed of Muslims and Christians and teach them the Jihad way is the way of peace and not of an armed uprising.

In terms of the combat operations, Cabunoc said that members of the Philippine Navy would man the coasts off Sulu to block any passage that the Abu Sayyaf may use.

He added that the suppression of the rebel Islamic group “is one of the priorities” of General Gregorio Pio Catapang as the AFP Chief of Staff.

“It’s one of his priorities, to turn around the image of Sulu from the ‘kidnap capital of the Philippines’ to one of the most developed provinces,” Cabunoc said.