Manila, Philippines – Lanao del Norte Rep. Imelda Q. Dimaporo has asked the government to secure the conflict areas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) following the encounter in Basilian recently where 19 soldiers were killed.
Dimaporo expressed all-out support to President Benigno S. Aquino III’s commitment to settle the more than three decades-old conflict in Mindanao peacefully instead of war. Dimaporo said the government should secure all MILF conflict areas because of the MILF’s records of incursion in the past to prevent more misencounters between the MILF and government.
While securing MILF conflict areas, Dimaporo reiterated her stand to support Aquino’s commitment to settle the conflict peacefully that claimed at least 150,000 lives, about 300,000 displaced families, and P1-billion destruction to properties. “We would not stop looking for ways in settling the conflict peacefully.
But the government peace negotiators must understand that because of tribal differences and lack of finances to sustain the MILF as one united group and they must not assume that Al Haj Murad Ibrahim has complete control of the MILF and therefore deal the problem accordingly,” Dimaporo said.