Army, police Eid al-Fitr security measures in place

COTABATO CITY — The police and military are now guarding extensively the entry and exit routes in this city and in nearby areas in the neighboring Bangsamoro region and in Region 12 to ensure a peaceful Eid al-Fitr celebration by the local Muslim communities on Friday.

Brig. Gen. Jaysen C. De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, announced on Wednesday that officials of the Cotabato City Police Office, led by their director, Col. Jibin M. Bongcayao, and Mayor Bruce C. Matabalao are overseeing the Eid al-Fitr security preparations in all of the 37 barangays under their jurisdiction.

Mr. Matabalao is also chairman of the multi-sector peace and order council in Cotabato City, where the regional capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is located.

Mr. De Guzman and Army Major Gen. Jose Vladimir R. Cagara, commander of the 6^th Infantry Division, separately told reporters on Wednesday that local executives, traditional Moro datus and influential blocs of Islamic missionaries are helping push security efforts forward.

“We are thankful to all of them, to the mayors in the cities and provinces under our jurisdiction and to their provincial governors for helping us ensure a peaceful Eid al-Fitr celebration in Central Mindanao and in the Bangsamoro provinces,” Mr. Cagara said.

The Eid al-Fitr marks the culmination of the month-long Islamic Ramadan fasting season, which started on Feb. 19. Physically fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, which lasts for one lunar cycle, as a religious obligation. They focus on reparation for wrongdoings and reconciliation with adversaries during the period.

There are two important yearly religious holidays in Islam, the Eid al-Fitr and the Eid al-Adha, also known as the feast of sacrifice, both being observed as nonworking holidays in BARMM’s three cities and five provinces and in all southern regions.

Brig. Gen. Arnold P. Ardiente, Region 12 police director, said all four governors in the provinces under their jurisdiction, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato and Sarangani, are also helping their units secure the designated open-field worship sites where thousands of their Muslim constituents will converge and perform their Eid al-Fitr rituals on Friday.

Mr. Ardiente said South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo, Jr., and his counterpart in Cotabato, Emmylou T. Mendoza, have instructed all of their constituent-mayors to deploy on Friday all the community watchmen under their local government units around the Eid al-Fitr worship sites in their municipalities.

Mr. Tamayo, now in his last term as South Cotabato governor, is chairperson of the multi-sector Regional Peace and Order Council 12. — John Felix M. Unson