Joint gov’t-MILF team finds no jihadists in C. Mindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – A joint verification team dispatched last week to verify reports about the alleged presence of foreign jihadists in Central Mindanao did not find any member of al-Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiyah in the hinterland separating the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, the military said yesterday.

The team, composed of representatives from the Army, police, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team, returned Sunday to Camp Iranun of the Army’s 603nd Infantry Brigade (IB) in Barira, Maguindanao and reported that there was no truth to allegations about the existence of terrorists in the area.

Col. Manolito Orense, commanding officer of the Army’s 603rd IB, said they were happy with the findings of the team.

“We felt relief with the findings of the team and we are glad that the verification mission was accomplished to the benefit of the two ceasefire committees – that of the MILF and the Philippine government,” Orense told journalists.

The team departed on its fact-finding mission on Aug. 26 after a brief send-off ceremony led by Orense and his men at Camp Iranun.

Orense said he was happy with  the cooperation showed by the members of the joint mission.

“These organizations that were hostile to each other in the past are now helping each other address security problems in Central Mindanao. This is a very clear ‘dividend’ of President Aquino’s Mindanao peace process,” he said.

The mission was supervised by Army Gen. Cesar Dionisio Sedillo Jr., the chairman of the government’s ceasefire committee, and Benjie Midtimbang, a senior MILF official.

Sedillo and Midtimbang confirmed that the team did not find any JI or al-Qaeda member in areas that the military, police and MILF members scoured for six days.