DILG tells village execs to stay vigilant

“All terrorists are extremists, but not all extremists are terrorists.”

Newly-elected village chiefs should cooperate and remained vigilant amid the continuing threat of violent extremism and to never compromise security as everybody’s concern, A Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) official said yesterday.

DILG Assistant Secretary for Peace and Security Alexander Macario made the call during Calabarzon Barangay Leaders’ Regional Summit and Mass Oath-taking at the Sta. Rosa City sports complex in Laguna where some 4,018 newly-elected village chairpersons in the Calabarzon Region comprising Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon attended.

“You are the key official in-charge as barangay chiefs, therefore exercise your decisiveness, prudence, due diligence and judgement to report any suspicious activity or persons in your jurisdiction as part of good governance,” Macario said.

He said barangays have been confronted over the years with the threats of armed groups like the communist insurgency and terrorist group and confirmed the continuing threats of violent extremism and terrorism in our midst.

“Communist rebels have wreaked havoc on Filipinos especially scores have been murdered in bombings, assassinations, kidnapping, including attempts and executions,” he said.

Violent extremism, he said, is a diverse phenomenon and it is neither new nor exclusive to any region, nationality or system of beliefs, that even up to now there is no clear definition of violent extremism.

He told the barangay captains that “all terrorists are extremists, but not all extremists are terrorists,” citing lessons learned over the recent Marawi City siege.

He presented the photos through his slide presentation of the Maute brothers who invaded Marawi City last May 23, 2017 describing the brood as belonging to a rich family.

“No one ever thought that the brood are terrorists because they are rich and some of their family members have studied abroad,” he said.

Macario said they were able to retrieve passports of the Maute brothers which traced to an address that was from Tanza, Cavite.

The passport sported a different name as a religious leader of the Muslim faith-based group and a “balik-Islam” (converted to Islam) and was one among those killed in the skirmish between the enemies of the state and the government troops. PNA

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