3 more killed in Maguindanao land feud

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – At least three more people have been killed in a flareup of violence between the followers of two village heads in Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao, who have been feuding over land, the authorities said.

The fresh clashes took place Thursday, barely two weeks after Duma Ugayan and Jerry Macalay met inside a military camp in Maguindanao and agreed to bury the hatchet.

Colonel Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said they were trying to figure out what triggered the new confrontations between Ugayan and Macalay’s groups.

Asto said some 2,000 families fled villages near the clash site to avoid getting caught in the violence.

Ugayan, head of the village of Malipodok, and Macalay, chief of Tabungao, have been at odds over conflicting land claims.

When their groups clashed in December, three people were also killed and about 10,000 others displaced from at least seven villages.

On February 16, upon the intercession of local religious leaders and the military, Ugayan and Macalay swore before the Koran to end their bloody confrontation.

“They shook hands and embraced each other,” Col. Mayoralgo dela Cruz of the Army’s First Mechanized Brigade said.

Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu said unless addressed with finality, the feud between Ugayan and Macalay might could affect the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Ugayan is a former Moro National Liberation Front commander while Macalay has relatives and supporters in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The two village chiefs said their feud had nothing to do with the MNLF and the MILF because it started from killings involving land disputes in the villages of Mileb, Baital, Gaunan, Panadtaban and Sapakan.

But even then, Mangudadatu said, it was not far-fetched that the clashes could drag other MNLF and MILF factions and could explode into a full-blown war once the military steps in to prevent civilian casualties.

Asto confirmed that soldiers and policemen had been deployed in the affected villages.