Extensive cross-section security exercise held in BARMM's regional capital

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Hundreds participated in the territorial defense exercise of the military and different line agencies in this city and in Maguindanao del Norte province on Thursday, August 20, something that local community leaders want replicated in other areas in the province.

The day-long inter-agency and multi-sector defense maneuvers and joint community evacuation drills, which involved the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, the police and different agencies of the Bangsamoro regional government, were held in the seaside Barangay Kalanganan 2 in Cotabato City and in the territorial seas of the beachfront Parang town in Maguindanao del Norte.

Maguindanao del Norte Vice Gov. Marshall Sinsuat and Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao separately told reporters on Saturday that they appreciate the simulated inland and offshore defense and emergency response exercises and want them held every two or three years to boost community awareness on how to respond to such emergencies.

Army Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, acting commander of 6th ID, officials of the Bangsamoro Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence, the Office of Civil Defense-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, BARMM’s health and social services ministries and other agencies under the office of Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua and local executives in Cotabato City and in Parang cooperated in facilitating the activity.

Bunayog said the Bureau of Fire Protection-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, officials of the BARMM regional police command, including its director, Brig. Christopher Abecia, the Philippine Coast Guard and units of the Navy’s 1st Marine Brigade securing Cotabato City and parts of Maguindanao del Norte, were also instrumental in the successful conduct of the exercise.

“We should not wait for any security crisis that the local communities do not know how to address frontally.  It is so important for us, in different government entities, and the public to be prepared for such at all times,” Bunayog, a member of BARMM’s Regional Peace and Order Council, told reporters on Saturday.

Sinsuat, who was elected vice governor of Maguindanao del Norte just last year, said he will request officials of the 6th  ID to also embark on such activity in the seaside areas in his hometown, Datu Blah Sinsuat, whose town center, Barangay Pura, is less than 40 kilometers west of the division’s headquarters in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in the province.

"We are ready to host such an activity in our municipality in the western coast of Maguindanao de Norte," Sinsuat told reporters.