Business boom expected in now Dawlah Islamiya-free South Cotabato

COTABATO CITY— Officials are expecting a boom in businesses in South Cotabato in Region 12 as a result of the Philippine Army's having cleared the province from the presence of the Dawlah Islamiya terrorist group.

The Dawlah Islamiya and its ally, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, whose main bastions are in Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and in Lanao del Sur, have a reputation for bombing buses and commercial establishments if owners refuse to pay “protection money” on a monthly basis.

Col. Carlyleo Nagac of the 5th Special Forces Battalion and his superior, the commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Major Gen. Alex Rillera, separately told reporters on Tuesday that efforts to clear South Cotabato, particularly Polomok town in the province, from Dawlah Islamiya terrorists was achieved via a multi-sector anti-terror campaign that Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr, and his constituent-mayors supported.

“We ought to thank all sectors that helped us and the Police Regional Office-12 clear South Cotabato from Dawlah Islamiya terrorists,” Rillera said on Tuesday.

Reports obtained from the 5th SF Bn, from Region 12 police director Brig. Jimili Macaraeg and from the office of Rillera indicate that 216 members of the Dawlah Islamiya in South Cotabato had surrendered to Army and police units in batches from last quarter of 2022 until December 2023, many of them already reintegrated into the local communities through the efforts of different line agencies in Region 12 and the office of Mr. Tamayo.

The administration of Tamayo, chairman of the cross-section Provincial Peace and Order Council, helped the 6th ID in rehabilitating former Dawlah Islamiya terrorists and New People's Army via humanitarian interventions assisted by different government agencies in Region 12, according to Nagac.

“We are now looking forward to the coming in of more investors in South Cotabato soon as a positive effect of its having been virtually liberated from the Dawlah Islamiya by the police and the military,” the chairperson of the Regional Development Council 12, Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza, said.

Mendoza said the inter-agency, multi-sector RDC supports the domestic peace and security thrusts of 6th ID and the South Cotabato provincial government.

Up to 214 members of the NPAs from across South Cotabato had also yielded in batches, in separate surrender rites, to units of 6th ID and the PRO-12 in the past 14 months.

“These positive developments are good for the investment climate of South Cotabato,” retired Army general Joselito Kakilala, chairperson of RDC-12's Economic Development Committee, said.

South Cotabato has vast Cavendish banana and pineapple plantations and vast swaths of lands in the province are being utilized for large-scale corn and soya production.