ARMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Andres Centino said that the military has been certain of its targets in the recent encounter in Maguing town in Lanao del Sur province with the carrying out of the critical plan which was plotted well.
“As to the nature of the group, we were deliberate in our plans. We had very good intelligence,” said Centino adding that the operations are sufficient and they make sure that the place where their troops go and the objectives of their operations are confined to they targets.
“Sufficient ang operations natin at sinisiguro natin na iyong pinuntahan ng tropa at iyong objective ng ating operations ay talagang confined na nandoon sila,” he said during his visit to the 103rd Infantry Brigade.
Centino shared that there was a delay in executing their plan and that it was relayed to him first before it commenced so that they could guarantee the certitude of the details, including the coordinates and the locations, making no room for errors.
As the operations were accomplished with various firearms, ammunition, and other war materials recovered, the chief of staff highlighted that this implies the capability of the targets to fight was seriously reduced, notwithstanding the number of remnants.
Centino said this could have posed a great danger if not with the government troops successfully overrunning the targets.
“The high-powered firearms you see, ito lang iyong nagpapatunay at nagpapakita sa atin na the threat is real and big. Kung hindi natin ito na-address in the recent operations that we had, ganito ka-terrifying at kung hindi natin mapigil, sila ay makapangtakot sa communities. We can only imagine ang potential damage ang magawa nila kung hindi natin ito naadress,” he said.
[The high-powered firearms you see, this only proves and shows that the threat is real and big. If we have not addressed this in the recent operations that we had, this would be terrifying and if we have not stopped it, they could have petrified the communities. We can only imagine the potential damage that they would have done if it was not addressed.] (with Claire Gigje /PIA-Lanao del Sur)
