Think tank monitors surge in violence with rise in heat index in BARMM

INQUIRER.net stock images

COTABATO CITY – A think tank group tracking conflicts in Mindanao has noted a surge in violence alongside the rise in heat index in the Bangsamoro region, expressing worry that this state of things could spill over into the upcoming midterm elections next year.

In its May 2024 bulletin, the Council for Climate and Conflict Action Asia (CCAA) said the scorching heat and surging violence in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has left “trails of death and displacement.”

The report covers incidents captured in CCAA’s critical events monitoring system from January to April this year.

Most of the violence, according to CCAA, was “fueled by resource competition, clan rivalries, and shifting political alliances.”

Citing the reports of its local monitors, CCAA said they recorded some 20 violent clashes in communities in the towns of Sultan sa Barongis, Sharif Saydona Mustapha, Mamasapano, Talitay and South Upi in Maguindanao del Sur, and what used to be villages of Pigcawayan and Midsayap of Cotabato province, now known as the BARMM’s Special Geographic Area (SGA).

Of the 20 incidents, at least eight erupted in the last two weeks of April, primarily involving former commanders of erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) whose fighters are the subject of decommissioning, in keeping with a 2014 peace deal with the government.

“These internal conflicts are the worst recorded since the formation of the new regional authority in 2019,” the CCAA reported emphasized.

READ: Opening up of BARMM to investments cheered

These incidents of MILF infighting resulted in 14 deaths and close to 5,400 families displaced from their homes, long after the Moro rebellion had officially ended with the forging of the landmark Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

CCAA said these displacements is highlighting the enduring insecurity and instability in a region that is supposed to be transitioning to peace.

“The violence and the human cost are so alarming that many religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim, and private sector groups, including nongovernment and civil society organizations, have called on the MILF leadership to discipline their troops,” the CCAA noted.

However, an end is not yet in sight for the internal strife among MILF forces in Mamasapano, Sharif Saydona Mustapha, South Upi, Sultan sa Barongis, Pigcawayan and Datu Odin Sinsuat.

“The spike in violence cast a shadow in what was otherwise a successful, peaceful and orderly plebiscite of the 63 barangays in the SGA (last April),” the group added.

It expressed alarm that if left unattended, this spiral of violence could spill over into the midterm elections next year.

“Violence ran parallel with the preparations for the first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections, scheduled for May next year. (Extremist) groups are busy hiring out their skills and services to politicians in the run-up to the 2025 elections,” CCAA said.

Despite intensified military pressure, the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Dawla Islamiyah (DI) are showing signs of bouncing back,“add(ing) to the insecurity in communities already suffering from extreme temperatures and drought,” the group noted.

CCAA said part of this resilience is the terrorist groups’ control of the lucrative trading of illicit drugs in Central Mindanao.

“…New evidence has revealed the rapid revival of the illegal drug economies in the mainland Bangsamoro provinces and the robust links between illicit drugs and violent extremism,” the CCAA report cited.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said it is validating these reports about drug syndicates funding BIFF and DI terrorist groups in the region.

The PDEA and the police have conducted at least 28 drug buy-bust operations from February to April across the cities and provinces of BARMM, arresting at least 49 individuals and confiscating over P64 million pesos worth of illegal drugs. With reports from Ryan Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao