12/03/2015
LANAO NORTE BEEFS UP SECURITY FEARING SPILLOVER
LINAMON, Lanao del Norte -- The military, police and the province of Lanao del Norte are working closely to secure the province from a possible spillover of the all-out offensive campaign of the government against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Governor Mohammad Khalid Q. Dimaporo is confident that such imminent threat can be thwarted with the creation of the Area Coordinating Center wherein the military, police, local government units (LGUs) and concerned line agencies met and discussed on the updates of peace and order in the province following the current military offensives in Central Mindanao.
Dimaporo urged the public to verify unfounded text messages circulating from peace spoilers that have been causing panic in the communities last week. Some information circulated that the rebels were coming down to attack Kolambugan town sending residents to seek evacuation.
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"In the local level, we are preparing for worst scenario," Dimaporo said.
Colonel Gilbert I. Gapay, commanding officer of the 2nd Mechanize Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in a phone interview on Thursday morning that the military is exerting all efforts to prevent hostilities and skirmishes in Lanao del Norte and Iligan City.
In 2008, Lanao del Norte hogged the headlines when Commander Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (M**F) attacked the towns of Kolambugan and Kauswagan after the Supreme Court rendered the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) unconstitutional.
The 2008 attack sent hundreds of residents in the province to evacuation centers. It razed to the ground residences and business establishments and killed closed to 30 people including soldiers, police and civilians.
Gapay said the military and the police have deployed more troops in strategic areas aside from the coordinating center to tighten security.
A spillover from the all-out offensive against the BIFF is not remote, thus the latter may defuse the pressure from the military by attacking other areas, Gapay added.
The M**F is confined in their communities and government recognized camps in the borders of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.
However, Gapay assures the threat is quite low in the province due to the ongoing peace advocacy rally and forum which the 15th Infantry Battalion and 3rd Cavalry Squadron are leading in the towns of Poona Piagapo, Munai, Kauswagan, Maigo, Tangcal, and Kolambugan.
