MILF ready to secure the periphery of Cotabato City if requested by concerned govt agencies- Von Al Haqq

• Jan 11, 2019
• Al Iskandar, Luwaran
• HITS: 1517

Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao— The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) through its Civil and Military Spokesman Von Al Haqq offered to secure Cotabato City in the wake of reports that armed men were planning to attack the city.

PDI in its report on January 8 said that Al Haqq made the offer as he appealed for calm amid social media reports that gunmen would sow chaos in Cotabato City.

“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.

The reports that gunmen would attack Cotabato City are “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).

Al Haqq 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, the PDI report also said in its article posted online.

Al Haqq also told PDI that 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 Commission on Elections has scheduled the plebiscite on Jan. 21 for the ARMM Core territory, Cotabato City and Isabela City, Basilan, and on Feb. 6 for Lanao Del Norte and Cotabato Province.

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