War on BIFF spreads to IP areas as 400 troops added

DAVAO CITY—The government’s all-out war on renegade Moro rebels is making its presence felt in tribal communities, forcing scores of indigenous peoples (IPs) to flee as the armed conflict is seen to last longer following the deployment of more soldiers from the Visayas to Mindanao.

Tribal leaders are resorting to prayer rituals to seek help from the gods to stop the bloodshed from crossing over to their once peaceful communities.

Labi Sannie Bello, supreme chieftain of the group Timuay Justice and Governance (TJG), said some tribal communities in the proposed Bangsamoro area were forced to flee their homes after being told that some members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were hiding in their area.

The tribal communities’ prayers, though, are not likely to be answered soon.

Ritual for peace

The military has pulled out at least 400 soldiers from the war on communist guerrillas in the province of Samar to send them to help fight BIFF members, who broke off from the Moro

Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over MILF’s peace deal with the government.

The Teduray and Lambangian tribes of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat and the Erumanen Manuvu tribe in North Cotabato are preparing for a ritual on Saturday to pray for peace in Mindanao.

“We are extremely worried about what is now happening in the Bangsamoro,” said Timuay leader Bello said in a statement.

He said as the tribes prepared for the ritual, residents of IP communities in the subvillages of Fute, Mari and Ahan in Guindulungan town, Maguindanao were forced to evacuate as a result of reports that BIFF men were hiding in their midst.

At least 120,000 civilians had been evacuated since the military launched the all-out war on BIFF on Feb. 25.

‘Inclusive’ BBL

Datu Roldan Babelon, a leader of the Erumanen tribe, said the conflict is spreading to IP communities.

The tribes’ ritual on Saturday is also meant for the passage of an “inclusive” Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) by Congress, said Babelon.

At least 1,000 IPs are expected to take part in the ritual to be held simultaneously in IP villages in the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan

Kudarat, North Cotabato and Bukidnon.

The war is not expected to end soon as at least 400 members of the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion in Eastern Visayas had been sent as reinforcements for soldiers waging war on BIFF.

The soldiers, based in Catubig, Northern Samar, boarded a C-130 plane after a sendoff ceremony at the Catarman Airport in Samar on March 20,

according to Capt. Andrew Linao, acting information officer of the 8th Infantry Division.

Linao said the soldiers would operate under the Sixth Infantry Division which has been leading the war on BIFF. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao with reports from Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas