2,000 in attendance at Ijtima Juhor

TUGUEGARAO CITY — The Philippine National Police placed Cagayan Valley on red alert for due to a two-day gathering of some 2,000 Muslim scholars, but it assured the public that no terrorist had infiltrated the meeting that concluded on Sunday night.

This city hosted the Ijtima Juhor, a convention of Muslim leaders and scholars in Luzon and the Visayas.

A viral post on Facebook quoted an alleged directive warning residents of imminent terror attacks that would coincide with the meeting.

Social media fake news

“The reports circulating on social media are not true,” said Senior Supt. Warren Tolito, Cagayan regional police director.

He said organizers of the gathering gave police assurances that they would not allow the event to be infiltrated by terrorists or sympathizers “but we have put in place some measures to prevent anyone or any group from taking advantage of the meeting.”

Checkpoints

“We are not also taking any chances so we have asked all attendees to be registered and have their bags checked. All vehicles entering the city are also subjected to visual searches,” he said.

Tolito said police and military units had set up checkpoints on three roads leading to the city in the villages of Libag, Buntun and Carig.

Security was also tight in areas surrounding the venue, the Muslim compound in the village of Balzain here.

To allay fears of a terror threat, Mayor Jefferson Soriano said he attended the meeting on Saturday and mingled with the participants for almost two hours without his security escorts.

Shadow of Marawi

Soriano, a retired police director, said he had been assured by Supt. Ebra Moxsir, the Ijtima Juhor national president, that foreigners attending the conference had been registered and profiled. Six Indonesians joined the event.

“We understand and can sense the fear our people in Tuguegarao have of a possible repeat of the Marawi incident,” Soriano said, referring to the takeover by Maute Group and Abu Sayyaf of Marawi City which led to war there and the declaration of martial law in the entire Mindanao.

The war in Marawi displaced thousands of people and led to the destruction of the city center. Rehabilitation plans were being implemented. —Melvin Gascon