by Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines
A high ranking police official has warned that armed Muslim groups continue to pose a serious threat to the southern Philippines despite the signing of a peace agreement between the government and the region's largest Muslim militant group just two weeks ago.
"The threat is continuing. There are threats in the east coast, there are threats in the west coast," Sr. Supt. Angelito Casimiro, chief of the Zamboanga City Police Office, told reporters Monday.
"We can't just put our guard down," Casimiro added. "We are continuing with our police visibility in the downtown business (commercial) district areas and also conducting checkpoints."
Violence has erupted again in the Philippines’ south, weeks after the agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government was signed granting greater autonomy to the Muslim region.
Suspected militants shot a man dead in Zamboanga last week, and there has also been a series of kidnappings and a grenade attack. Two women were taken from a Malaysian resort around 200 miles (320 km) from a stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayaff on the Philippines' island of Jolo on Wednesday, and gunmen from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) released a school principal Saturday they said they had taken to pressure the government to release 24 comrades captured in a 2013 siege on Zamboanga.
In September, elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) occupied portions of the majority Christian city to demonstrate their opposition to the peace deal, engaging in a lengthy battle with security forces, which reduced large parts of the city to rubble.
Asked to comment on the ongoing search for the Chinese tourist and Filipino dive resort worker abducted in Malaysia, Casimiro told the Anadolu Agency on Monday that he had no confirmation where they were being held.
Since January, the United States has warned against travel to the region. The advisory reflects the continued threat in the area due to what both U.S. and Philippines governments have termed "terrorist" and insurgent activities.
Outside of continued resistance by the MNLF and Abu Sayaff, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Front (BIFF) has been particularly active in the Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces in the South, where the government maintains a state of emergency and a greater police presence.
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