Army’s Sallam Unit gains headway on peace front

KABUNTALAN, Maguindanao – The Army’s newly activated Sallam Unit is cutting a new path to peace, one far from being bloody and painful.

The Sallam (which means peace) Unit, composed of soldiers from the 6th Infantry Division and 57th Infantry Battalion, treated 600 people afflicted with various ailments and circumcised 240 children, mostly dependents of Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels, here the other day.

The unit, led by Muslim military officers, including Islamic theologians, was launched almost a month ago at the 6th ID headquarters in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town as part of efforts to maximize the division’s confidence-building measures with Muslim communities in hostile areas.

Sallam members earlier had rehabilitated two mosques and installed two artesian wells in far-flung communities.

Muslim leaders, as a gesture of reciprocation, have since been helping the 57th IB prevent kidnap-for-ransom gangs from seeking sanctuary in this town.

At least 80 percent of those who availed themselves of the Sallam Unit’s medical and dental services here were family members of MILF combatants, now peacefully tilling their rice and corn farms here.

This town used to be a haven of criminals, kidnappers and notorious drug traffickers. — John Unson