Defense chief commits support to Basilan’s peace campaign
TIMRA Reports • 15:30 PM Wed Sep 14, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
Gov. Jim Salliman and Defense Secretary Jose Faustino, Jr. met Monday. (From Basilan governor’s office)
COTABATO CITY - Defense Secretary Jose Faustino, Jr. and Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman have agreed to cooperate in rehabilitating former Abu Sayyaf members who have returned to the fold of law.
More than 300 Abu Sayyaf members in Basilan have pledged allegiance to the government in batches in the past six years through the joint efforts of elected and traditional leaders in the province, the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade and the Basilan Provincial Police Office.
Salliman and Faustino also discussed, during their meeting Monday in the office of the defense secretary, partnership in furthering the national government’s reconciliation programs for enemies of state --- the New People’s Army and southern terrorist groups operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“It was a fruitful meeting,” Salliman said Wednesday.
Faustino, in a statement Tuesday, acknowledged the accomplishments of the multi-sector Basilan Provincial Peace and Order Council in addressing violent religious extremism in the province.
He also assured Salliman of the support of the Department of National Defense to all domestic the peace and security programs of the Basilan provincial government and the mayors of the 11 towns and two cities in the province.