Military officials met on Tuesday with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and agreed to further intensify their coordination in order to prevent a possible mis-encounter and other untoward incidents relating to the conduct of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs in Mindanao.
The meeting, presided over by Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the military’s Joint Task Force Central and held at Camp Siongco in Maguindanao, was partially prompted by the death of nine men in North Cotabato during a police anti-illegal drugs operation.
The MILF claimed that the nine men killed by the police during the operations more than a week ago were its members.
During the meeting, Butch Malang, chairman of the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities for the MILF, assured the Moro group’s all-out support to the government’s anti-drugs drive.
For his part, Sobejana reminded all the stakeholders on their respective tasks to accomplish the mission.
“We are the guards of the gates of change and we have to start the change within us,” Sobejana said.
The meeting was also attended by brigade and battalion commanders under the JTF-Central and officials from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Police Regional Office 12 and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).
Sobejana stressed the need for inter-agency coordination, collaboration, and cooperation with the PNP and PDEA as the lead agencies in all drug operations with the lookout of the unit commanders to address capability gaps to accomplish the mission without casualties as much as possible.
Capt. Arvin Encinas, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), said that the coordinating meeting was held to ensure proper coordination during the conduct of anti-illegal drugs operations in Central Mindanao.
“The purpose of the joint conference is to review and revisit the respective mandates of all concerned agencies in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs; discuss issues concerning coordination and actual conduct of anti-drugs operations; and, to come up with measures to minimize, if not eradicate concerns experienced in previous operations in all affected communities within Central Mindanao with proper inter-agency coordination,” Encinas said.
“The meeting also highlighted the need for coordination to the MILF-CCCH when there is a conduct of operation in all recognized MILF camps in as the government expressed its desire for peaceful operations to suppress drug problem,” he added.
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