Land dispute hinders peace process

KABACAN, North Cotabato—One day in February, Babu Kandi was buying some household items at the public market in Kabacan town in North Cotabato when she ran across a woman, with a little girl in tow, whom she had not seen for sometime.

Kandi, 48, said she felt coldness as the woman firmly held her hand. It was to be one of the most awkward moments of her life, according to her.

“She asked me how are the children in the evacuation center, how are we getting by. I did not know what to do and what to feel. I did not even know what to say, except to tell her that we are fine,” Kandi said in Filipino.

“I asked her back: If it was difficult for us, it could be difficult for them, too.”

The woman was from Barangay Nangaan. She is the wife of a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Kandi, on the one hand, resides in the neighboring village of Simone, a territory of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Land dispute

The chance encounter took place while most male members of their communities were shooting at each other on the outskirts, in a conflict stirred by a land dispute amid the resumption of negotiations between the government and the MILF.

Nangaan and Simone, situated along the Pulangi River, were deserted in February as fighting between MNLF and MILF members intensified since it began in October last year. Nearby Barangay Tamped was also troubled by the hostilities.

Over 9,000 people, mostly children, were displaced. Two civilians, one of them a 4-year-old, were killed.

Classes in eight schools were disrupted, affecting 1,976 students, according to Bantay Ceasefire, a grassroots-based peace watchdog .

Living in fear

Today, the residents of Nangaan and Simone are back home, but still suffering from the stench of gunpowder. They are still gripped by fear for anytime, they may shoot at each other again; the land dispute has not been really resolved.

“Ahh … It is really unfortunate because most of them are even our relatives,” Kandi said.

Gov. Emmylou Mendoza described the situation as highly volatile. “They only stopped shooting at each other because they have run out of bullets. That is the truth,” she said.

She acknowledged that the military had been ordered to make sure that supply of bullets does not reach the residents. “The soldiers are around these villages,” she said.

According to Mendoza, the conflict must be resolved immediately as it may gravely hinder ongoing efforts to seal a peace agreement and end the Moro rebellion in Mindanao.

“While the situations in Simone and Nangaan are complex and difficult, we have to do something to end the problem and deal with the source of conflict,” she said.

Ceasefire

Both the MNLF and the MILF have recognized the need to declare a ceasefire in the two barangays. No less than Datu Dima Ambel, chair of the MNLF’s Sebangan Kutawato State Revolutionary Committee, appealed for an intervention “for the sake of the civilians.”

Ambel has been blamed for starting the fight, but he has denied the charge that he was grabbing the land from their rightful owners.

The provincial government has sought the help of the Moro elders to intervene, on top of police and military responses.

“We have to bring the people back. And that is when we could start with our local peace initiatives,” Mendoza said. “We cannot allow them to stay in the evacuation center and be left out there while the other children are at school. We are practically running after these.”

The damaged schools in Nangaan have already been repaired. Earlier, the provincial government made sure that the children will go to school to learn about another kind of peace.

Peace education

“If it is difficult for us to talk and convince their parents to actively join our efforts to resolve conflict and live in peace, we might as well focus in educating the children of the value of peace,” Mendoza said.

From April 14 to May 11, the provincial government gathered around 28,000 children in peace camps all around North Cotabato. Some of the participants came from Nangaan and Simone.

“The peace process is a long shot. And while peace negotiations are ongoing, a lot of things are happening on the ground as proven by our experience” in the two villages, the governor said.

Col. Cesar Sedillo, commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, said the members of the two communities had petitioned the military to help resolve the conflict. He, however, described the case as “complicated.”

Mendoza has an explanation.

“We cannot take sides. The government has a peace agreement with the MNLF and is currently in a negotiation with the MILF. And we have this kind of situation on the ground. What are we to do?” she said.

“All we want is to reestablish order in the community. We all want to see people in these villages living in peace again. However, we leave it to the police to enforce the law and follow the process. We are closely working with them,” Sedillo said.

Tired of running

Undongon Sudang, 61, a former chair of Simone, expressed hopes that the efforts being done by the provincial government and the Moro elders would pay off.

“We wish this senseless fighting would come to an end. We are tired of running around,” Sudang said.

Kandi said: “I prefer peace than war.”

I don’t want to die in an evacuation center. And I don’t want my grandchildren to grow old running away from home because of war. All this time, we only want to live in peace,” she said.

“But why are we running again now? Why does it have to happen again?”