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AFP confirms terrorists recruiting people in Lanao del Sur
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) confirmed that there are reported recruitment activities of terrorists in Lanao del Sur.
“We have received reports that there are recruitment activities in the areas surrounding the Lanao lake,” said Col Romeo Brawner, Joint Task Force Ranao deputy commander, Wednesday.
“We are coordinating closely with the local government and also the citizens of these municipalities so that they could help us in preventing the recruitment, especially the youth to join any terroristic activities,” he added.
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, AFP Western Mindanao Command chief, said military forces are preparing for a large scale operation against the remaining terrorists in southern Philippines.
“As you all know we are continuing and sustaining our gains in Marawi and considering that the group of Toraype is aligned with the ISIS we are continuing our hunt on Central Mindanao because we want that the Maguidnanao and Central Mindanao especially the Cotatabo peninsula will be safe from any threat from the ISIS inspired group,” he said.
“As of this moment, our troops from joint task force central is continuing hunting and we have already preparing for major operations in the area, we cannot discuss the details considering it will telegraph our actions,” he added.
AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero said as of Wednesday the military is conducting clearing operation in Marawi City.
“On the security aspect our troops under Joint Task Force Ranao is continuous to conduct clearing operations, by clearing I mean clearing the area of the main, the main, most affected area of whatever war materiel may have been left by the Maute/Isis in the area and together with the recovery of cadavers and unexploded ordnance,” he said.
“In the recovery side again the troops are undertaking support to the post conflict needs assessment being conducted by Join Task Force Bangon Marawi under Sec. Eduardo Del Rosario and just recently our ground commander (Brig. Gen. Roseller) Murillo has already gave the go signal for our post conflict needs assessment teams to enter the area for them to be able to conduct their business,” he added.
Guerrero said based on their latest count the military has recovered a total of 77 firearms since the liberation of Marawi City last month.
“Right now, we have also our engineers here in the area composed Army, Air Force and Navy engineers which are also undertaking debris clearing in the most affected areas,” he said. Robina Asido/DMS
