COTABATO CITY (November 1, 2025) — The police, military and Muslim local executives are together guarding tightly all cemeteries in Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and in this city since Thursday to ensure the safety of Christians visiting the graves of their departed relatives in commemoration of the November 1 and 2 All Saints and All Souls Days.
The Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region are both anticipating possible scenarios that the now defunct Dawlah Islamiya and its ally, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, can instigate in any area close to cemeteries to stir an impression that both are still capable of sowing terror despite the surrender to the government of more than a thousand members, among them experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, since 2022.
“There is peace and calm around but, still, we are not taking chances. We are thankful to the local government units, Muslim religious leaders and the Moro-led peace advocacy groups supporting our security operations to keep peace in all cemeteries in areas under our jurisdiction,” PRO-BAR’s director, Police Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, told reporters on Saturday, November 1.
Among the cemeteries in Central Mindanao being guarded extensively by state security units are the Marian Hills Memorial Park in Barangay Tamontaka in Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte, which is not too distant from the Camp Siongco in the municipality, where the headquarters of the 6th ID is located.
Personnel of the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station, led by their chief, Lt. Col. Esmael Madin, members of the Navy’s 5th and 6th Marine Battalions, intelligence agents from the 6th ID and Muslim local officials are positioned in the entrance gate of the memorial park and in its surroundings.
“We are thankful to the Muslim and Christian community elders and barangay officials helping us secure this memorial park,” Madin said.
Central Mindanao residents have witnessed bloody attacks on Christian worship sites in recent years.
The premises of the Catholic cathedral in the center of Cotabato City was bombed, using an improvised explosive device detonated from a distance using a mobile phone, more than a decade ago, which resulted in the death of a grade school boy, whose mother was a bank employee then, and hurt more than ten others.
A number of worshipers also sustained shrapnel wounds from a grenade blast that ripped through a small chapel in a barangay close to a Catholic university in the city in 2022.
Mayor Bruce Matabalao, himself a Muslim, and the Christian director of the Cotabato City Police Office, Col. Jibin Bongcayao, are jointly overseeing the security missions of volunteer community watchmen and police security teams in the Chinese, Catholic and public cemeteries along Sinsuat Avenue and in the Malagapas area in the city.
“Islam has very profound, extensive teachings on respect for religions and propagation of interfaith solidarity among communities with different faiths. We adhere to that in protecting our constituents from threats, regardless of their religious and ethnic identities. Christians help keep peace around our worship sites during Islamic religious holidays and during our month-long Ramadan fasting season,” Matabalao, chairman of the multi-sector Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, said.
Photo shows police personnel, led by their chief, Madin, and a Philippine Marine serviceman together securing the entrance to the 10-hectare Marian Hills Memorial Park in Barangay Tamontaka in Datu Odin Sinsuat.