Army deploys 1,000 troops in Mindanao to boost security on May 9

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — The Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6th ID) on Thursday activated a 1,000-member military security task force to help the poll body secure politically troubled areas in central Mindanao on May 9.

 

The contingent, named Task Force CHOP (clean, honest, orderly and peaceful elections), is led by Col. Romeo Brawner, 6th ID’s chief-of-staff.

 

Brawner and his men are backed by a dozen combat vehicles, tanks and motorized watercraft for security operations in marshlands and polling precincts along rivers criss-crossing the adjoining North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces.

 

The group, which has a team of long-range snipers, will operate under the supervision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), according to Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, 6th ID’s commander.

 

“These men will engage without any hesitation saboteurs or armed groups out to derail the conduct of the May 9 elections in any of the municipalities under the jurisdiction of the 6th ID,” Pangilinan said.

 

The task force was jointly launched at the parade ground of this Army camp southwest of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao on Thursday afternoon by Pangilinan and Major Gen.  Eduardo Año, the commanding general of the Philippine Army.

 

Pangilinan said the election security duties of the task force shall also be coordinated closely with the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

 

The MILF had earlier said it will reposition its forces away from guerilla enclaves near polling centers before May 9 for Comelec personnel and teachers to freely operate and serve voting folks without security apprehensions.