Alleged Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) members residing in a Cadiz City barangay and conducting recruitment activities in Negros Occidental do not pose a threat to residents, Col. Rainerio de Chavez, OIC provincial police director, assured on Thursday, March 21.
“Based on our records there are no MNLF members in Region 6 (Western Visayas),” de Chavez said.
“We assure the public that since the police are onboard we do not see any threat to the security of residents in Cadiz,” he said.
However, the police are investigating reports that the alleged MNLF members are conducting recruitment activities and collecting membership fees, de Chavez said.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the presence of alleged MNLF members can be alarming but the Cadiz City local government, Army and police are on top of the situation.
Mayor Salvador Escalante said there are about 12 men claiming to be alleged MNLF members residing in huts in Tinampa-an.
“Sometimes there are a lot of them and on other occasions there are only a few in the area,” he said.
They allegedly require their recruits to pay a membership fee P10,000 and an additional P40,000 to P80,000 for training in Mindanao. The recruits are told that when they pass the training and become MNLF members they will receive a monthly salary of about P40,000 to P80,000, Escalante said.
However, a lot of residents of Barangay VF Gustilo, Cadiz, who were reportedly brought to Mindanao and have returned to Negros said no training or hiring took place, the mayor added.
The illegal recruitment activities of the alleged MNLF members have not been limited to Cadiz, they also go to Bago City, Murcia, EB Magalona and other neighboring areas, Escalante said.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, has said that the 1996 final peace agreement with the MNLF does not authorize the establishment of new camps and recruitment of new members, Escalante pointed out.
Escalante said he has issued a cease and desist order to halt construction activities of the alleged MNLF members in Barangay Tinanpa-an. If they fail to submit a building permit the structure they are building will be demolished, he said.
The construction of what could be a barracks or a mosque on the about 9-hectare foreclosed property owned by the Philippine Bank of Commerce has no building permit or permission from the land owner, Escalante said.
The security officers of the bank have arrived and a police detachment will be placed in the area, Escalante said.*