Regional council pledges support for new BARMM cop chief

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — The multisectoral Bangsamoro regional police advisory council has pledged support to the security efforts of Police Brig. Gen. Marni Marcos the region's new police chief.

Marcos, who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1988, is the new director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. PRO-BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.

The Regional Advisory Council is chaired by Laisa Masuhud Alamia, the minority floor leader in the BARMM regional parliament.

Alamia opened Monday’s council meeting in Camp SK Pendatun in Parang town in Maguindanao with an assurance of support to the newly-designated regional police director.

Marcos previously said he needs help from the RAC because he is not yet familiar with the cultural, religious and political intricacies of the region.

He was assigned to replace Brig. Gen. Graciano Mijares, who is now assigned at the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police.

Members of the council, among them former Cotabato City Councilor Marino Ridao, Sr., representatives from the media, the business sector and the Islamic community, have agreed to invite lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, who is BARMM's local government minister, to join the advisory bloc.

The RAC supports the peace efforts of the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose chairman, Al-Haj Ahod Ebrahim, who used the nom de guerre “Hadji Murad”, is now chief minister of BARMM.