Marines in Central Mindanao part of Fleet-Marine strategy — official

The recent redeployment of the 1st Marine Brigade from Basilan province to Central Mindanao is part of the new Fleet-Marine operations strategy being adopted by the Armed Forces, a military official said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the military official said the Marines will be working in tandem with the Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao to address maritime issues and potential terrorist threats to the center of Mindanao. The source said the bulk of the Marine forces will be deployed to the towns of Lebak and Calamansig in Sultan Kudarat and South and North Upi in Maguindanao. The others, he said, are in Cotabato City on the request of the Christian and Muslim leaders and the residents, who asked for the deployment of the Marines to address the increasing number of kidnappings and bombings in the city. Over recent years, a spate of kidnappings of both local entrepreneurs and foreign personalities in Cotabato City has raised public concern, prompting some foreign countries to issue occasional travel advisories against parts of Mindanao, Cotabato City included. "With their deployment to the coastal areas, we can apply the Fleet-Marine concept of operations to address maritime security issues...We have Navy forces already there but we have no Marines in the area," the official said. "We want to address the maritime security issues in the area because it is an open area...This may be addressed by the Navy but our problem is inland. We have no people, we have no troops in the area," he added. Prior to their pullout, the 1st Marine Brigade had been deployed as part of the Fleet-Marine strategy aimed to address various threat groups in the island province of Basilan. They have since been replaced by elite Army soldiers. "The maritime concern (in Central Mindanao) is the entry and exit of people who are not being checked," the source said. The areas where the Marines are being deployed are potential entry and exit points of terrorists owing to the lack of troops there, he added. 'Operational strategy' Armed Forces chief General Ricardo David on Wednesday justified a recent decision to transfer the Marine brigade to central Mindanao, where the strongest bailiwicks of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are located. David said the move was only part of the AFP’s "operational strategy," since the combat units belonging to the 1st Marine Brigade are "national maneuver forces" that can be deployed anywhere in the country. Military insiders have linked the move to an alleged plan to pave the way for the appointment of a general from the Philippine Army to the AFP’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom), a post Marine Lt. Gen. Ben Dolorfino will vacate when he retires on Wednesday next week. Earlier, military officials said that before they were pulled out, there was a balance between Navy and Marines in the Westmincom area. With their departure, the Wesmincom is now an Army-dominated unified area command. According to the source, the idea of pulling out the Marines from Basilan was the idea of the Army leadership, and this was subsequently approved by the military’s general headquarters. "They (Marines) have nowhere to go so they were brought to Central Mindanao," he said. "The operational strategy there is to test the Socom (Special Operations Command) forces," he said, referring to the Scout Rangers and Special Forces that were deployed to Basilan in place of the Marines. "The Scout Rangers and the Special Forces are not traditionally given an area of responsibility. Now, they are being given an AOR which is Basilan," he said. Army troops recently deployed to Basilan are headed by Socom deputy chief Col. Nicanor Dolojan. Apprehension Meanwhile, a Navy officer — who also refused to be identified — said the inception of the Fleet-Marine concept of operations in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi in 2006 was a "positive thing for us." "Its littoral, meaning surrounded by waters. That is the best area to practice the Fleet-Marine concept, to apply and perfect the Fleet-Marine concept of operation," he said. But the Navy officer said the deployment of Marines to Central Mindanao may not be suited under the Fleet-Marines concept of operations. "While most of these areas (in Central Mindanao) are littoral also, accessed by Navy ships, if they (Marines) are deployed deep inland, this will defeat the Fleet-Marine concept of operation, unless they are operating close to shore," he said. "If they go deep inland, they cannot be supported anymore by the Fleet...But if they are operating within the firing gun of the Navy, we can still implement the Fleet-Marine concept of operation. If they go deep inland, they (Marines) are going to be like the Army," he said. — DM/RSJ, GMANews.TV