s0l0ftseGfi$truGG
Magr"finda nao Rep. EsinaeJ "Toto"
; prever,rt further damage to croPs,
Mangudadatu has issued a strong
appeal to President Dutefte to de-
clare a temporary ceasefire in the
military operations in his province
that have caused the displacement
of thousands of his constituents.
In a letter sent to Malacanang,
Mangudada[u also urg6d Duterte
to seek the intercession of "high
ranking officials of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front" to help convince
militants belonging to the' Bang-
sarmoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
to lay down their arms.
He said the MILF officials can be
instrumental in calling on BIFF guer-
rillas to "abandon the kind of Islarnic
idolqgy they are preaching."
"We are appealing to you Mr.
President to put a halt for the
meantime and request the high
ranking officials of the Moro Is-
lamic Liberation Front'to convince
the members of the Bangsamoro
Islamic Freedom Fighters to lay
down their arms or to abandon the
kind of Islamic ideology they are
preaching," wrote Mangudadatu.
He added: "In this way, it will
-livestock,
and loss of innocent
livqs."
In his letter, the former Maguin-
danao governor hinted that BIFF
terrorists have been weakened.
"We write to you Mr. President
because of the situation in our
proyince. The continued pursuit
and assault of our' government
forces against Islamic terrorist
group.have displaced thousands of
Maguindanaoans, destroyed mil-
'lions wofth of crops and livestock,
and not to mention loss of lives of
innocent who are caught in the
crossfi re." Manqudadatu said.
Fierce\ fighting between the
military and BIFF terrorists started
early this year and resulted in nu-
merous deaths on the governrnent
civilian population, and the BIFF.
Among those killed were foreign-
looking men who fought alongside
BIFF fighters, indicating that the
local terrorist organization is get-
ting international support, possibly
the Islamic State, known for the
viciousness of.'rts mempers. (Ben
Rosado): pgeLn-