ARMM officials say clerics should take active role in thwarting extremism

COTABATO CITY –Top executives in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) pushed for the extensive involvement of clerics in thwarting the growth of jihadist blocs in Mindanao which have been rallying Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) ideologies.

In a meeting here of the ARMM’s Peace and Order Council last Thursday, Governors Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao and Jim Saliman of Basilan, as well as Vice Governor Mamintal Adiong, Jr. of Lanao del Sur, separately recommended the enlistment of clerics in the government campaign against religious extremism.

“There are only very few people out there propagating this kind of ideology. Majority preachers are moderate in their teachings and against extremism in Islam as espoused by fanatics. We should tap the majority,” Mangudadatu said in the meeting presided over by ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman, who is the regional peace and order council chair.

Mangudadatu cited his administration’s recent efforts in organizing more than 500 Islamic clerics in his province to be on guard against fanaticism among their ranks. Among those organized clerics were imams in mosques and teachers in madaris (Arabic and Islamic schools) in Maguindanao, he said.

Saliman and Adiong shared Mangudadatu’s views, saying that the state should sanction the madaris system by way of profiling the teachers and regulating the schools’ curricula through accreditation.

There were persistent reports that some Islamic schools and even mosques in Lanao del Sur were being used in the spread of religious fanaticism similar to the ISIS jihadist ideologies.

Hataman proposed that the ARMM government can embark on extensive summits with Islamic theologians to build consensus on how they can help in the campaign against religious militancy.

Major Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., commander of the military’s Western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City, said the religious extremism in Mindanao is now a major problem confronting the government just as serious as the narcotics issue.

Galvez mentioned 26 fanatical Jihadist cells in Lanao del Sur that are linked 25 with other fraternal blocs. Lanao del Sur and provinces in Central Mindanao are covered by an interim ceasefire accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“Some of those who have joined these extremists groups have relatives in the MILF and the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front),” Galvez said.

He said that, while many leaders of both fronts have actively been helping the government prevent the entry of extremists in areas they control, there are Jihadists who still manage to hide in recognized MILF camps.

“These are intelligent young people who come from popular and wealthy clans. They are the kind we least expect to become terrorists,” Galvez said.

In another recommendation, Adiong said there was also a need to evaluate the government’s approach in neutralizing the Maute terror group now creating havoc in his province.

The Maute group is a subset of the Dawlah Islamiya and espouses its loyalty to the ISIS.