Maguindanao and two other key areas in Mindanao will remain under state of emergency through the New Year as security officials are yet to see proof that the situation in these places have normalized.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said this was arrived at during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting presided by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the Mansion House in Baguio City.
“The state of emergency stays. The recommendation of the National Security Council Cabinet Group was for it to stay and this was unanimously approved by the group and the President," he said.
Maguindanao was placed under state of emergency a day after the November 23 massacre of 57 people - a grisly political violence blamed on the powerful Ampatuan clan.
Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City were also included in the declaration to prevent a possible spillover of the violence.
Remonde said the state of emergency is necessary to enable the military to actively participate in maintaining peace and order in the three areas until government functions and services there normalize.
“That is the basic premise for the recommendation and the eventual approval for the retention of the state of emergency," he said.
“The normalization is already seeping in but despite that, they still recommended that they still needed the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] for continuous security action," he added.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said security forces are yet to completely neutralize the armed groups in the areas that may still pose threat to public safety. - Report from KBK, GMANews.TV
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