Floods, armed clashes displace over 30,000 families in Maguindanao

RESCUE MISSION | Members of Maguindanao del Sur’s disaster response unit search for trapped residents following flash floods that hit Shariff Aguak and Datu Hoffer towns due to the intertropical convergence zone on Monday night, Sept. 18, 2023. (Photo from the Maguindano del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office)

COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao del Norte, Philippines — Over 30,000 families have been displaced from their homes in the two Maguindanao provinces due to floods and armed clashes in the past three days, disaster officials said.

Ameer Jehad Ambolodto, chief of Maguindanao del Sur’s Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said sustained rains from Monday until Tuesday dawn submerged 79 villages in 10 towns of the province.

The moderate to heavy downpour was spawned by an intertropical convergence zone that affected the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, and adjoining Lanao del Sur.

The flooded Maguindanao del Sur towns were Pagalungan, Datu Hoffer, Shariff Aguak, Datu Montawal, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Pandag, Talayan, Guindulungan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Datu Unsay.

According to Ambolodto, there was no casualty from the flash flood but local residents were caught by surprise by the sudden rise of water in their localities.

“In the past, despite heavy downpour, Shariff Aguak and Datu Hoffer do not experience flash floods, only now,” said Diane Ali, a businesswoman in Barangay Poblacion of Shariff Aguak.

Evacuated residents

Ambolodto affirmed that Shariff Aguak and Datu Hoffer towns were not traditionally flood-prone areas, which could have been the reason people there were caught off guard by the onrush of floodwaters.

“Worst, thick mud accompanied the flash floods,” Ambolodto said in an interview with a local radio station on Tuesday.

He said it was a consolation that the flood-affected families readily evacuated even before the waters rose, many of them staying in the houses of relatives.

Residents in Pagalungan town began evacuating on Sunday night as water began to rise in the afternoon due to sustained rains in nearby Cotabato and Bukidnon provinces that drained into Pulangi River of the town, according to a report from its municipal disaster risk reduction and management office (MDRRMO).

The floodwaters continued to rise by Monday, sending 6,644 families, or 26,576 individuals, from 10 villages to seek shelter in evacuation centers and in the homes of relatives.

Floods also affected the coastal Balabagan and Malabang towns of Lanao del Sur, submerging their commercial centers in around 0.6 meters to 0.9 meters (2 feet to 3 feet) of water on Monday that has subsided by Tuesday morning.

In Malabang, the MDRRMO said that 418 families in nine villages were affected by the floods that submerged 139 houses and damaged 75 hectares of farms planted with root crops.

On Tuesday, authorities in Malabang and Balabagan oversaw the clearing of the national highway of mud and other debris.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence has sent emergency relief assistance to affected families in the flooded towns.

Fighting amid the rain

Amid heavy rains at dawn on Tuesday, some 300 families of Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao del Sur fled their homes as fighting erupted between warring commanders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the military wing of erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which is in the process of being decommissioned.

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Maj. Saber Balogan, chief of the civil-military unit of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said that the MILF infighting was spawned by a long-standing dispute over land ownership.

MILF intervention sought

The clashes occurred in the villages of Kaya-Kaya and Tukanalugong, and involved the followers of a certain “Commander Max” and a certain “Commander Toks” who are both under the 106th base command of the BIAF, Balogan said.

Military forces have already been deployed in the villages to pacify the warring clans whose exchange of gunfire left a civilian killed by a stray bullet, he added.

“As of Tuesday morning, people are still moving to the town center as sporadic gun fires are still heard in the affected villages,” Balogan said.

According to him, the tension began on Monday afternoon when members of the warring families accidentally crossed paths and traded barbs, and eventually, bullets.

“I appeal to the MILF leadership, please intervene for the sake of the civilians,” Balogan said.

Maj. Pablo Boloy, Datu Abdullah Sangki police chief, said police personnel have been deployed near the area of conflict to prevent the escalation of hostilities.

On Sunday morning, 599 families in nearby Shariff Saydona Mustapha town fled their homes in three communities of Ganta village after fighting erupted between supporters of the two warring families.

As of Monday, the displaced families are still sheltered in the town’s evacuation center.

—WITH A REPORT FROM LEAH D. AGONOY