Committee to monitor barangay pacification efforts in Cotabato City activated

COTABATO CITY --- The city government now has a committee empowered to recommend punishment for barangay officials doing nothing against drug traffickers in their respective communities.Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi announced on Thursday that the newly-organized oversight committee shall oversee the activities of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC).Guiani-Sayadi is the presiding chairperson of Cotabato City’s inter-agency, multi-sectoral peace and order council.The activation of the committee was among the topics in Thursday’s peace and order council meeting in a local venue the mayor presided over.The meeting was attended by Major Gen. Ariel Dela Vega of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, representatives from the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).Guiani-Sayadi, a practicing lawyer, warned her constituent-barangay officials of harshest punitive action if proven remiss in their sworn duty to fight criminals in their respective turfs. If you cannot do your job for one reason or another just tell me. I will not hesitate to accept your resignation, she said.The mayor said she will fully flex her authority in enforcing punishments based on recommendations of the oversight committee.Guiani-Sayadi is known throughout the 37 barangays in Cotabato City for her iron-fisted stance in addressing domestic security concerns.The city’s local government unit (LGU), agents of PDEA’s office in Region 12 and the city police had arrested more than a hundred large-scale drug traffickers and neutralized 12 drug rings in continuing joint anti-narcotics campaign that began in July 2016.Guiani-Sayadi, who has been leading nighttime law-enforcement patrols since, said her office can now maximize its security thrusts with the support of the newly-created Army-led Task Force Kutawato.The anti-crime task force, under Army Col. Jose Gongona, was launched last week by the city LGU.It will help local sectors and the city police maintain the fragile peace in all of Cotabato City’s 37 barangays.Dela Vega, who has operational control of the Army’s 5thSpecial Forces Battalion based in the city, reiterated his commitment to Guiani-Sayadi’s pacification efforts during Thursday's peace and order council meeting.Dela Vega said the recent successes of the city LGU in preventing crimes in the barangays can be used as guides in law-enforcement activities of local governments in nearby cities and provinces.