300 families flee amid MILF infighting in BARMM

Inquirer files

COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — Around 300 families or 1,500 individuals fled their homes along the border of Aleosan town of Cotabato province and the newly created Tugunan town of the Bangsamoro’s Special Geographic Area (SGA) following skirmishes that broke out between two warring Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members in the area.

Jimmy Adil, appointed town councilor for Tugunan, a newly-created town of the SGA in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), told the Inquirer on Monday that sporadic firefights started on Saturday between families of Moro rebels in Sitio Tubak, Barangay Pagangan in Aleosan town and Sitio Singko, Barangay Bualan in Tugunan town.

READ: Gov’t must address causes of ‘rido’ in BARMM – Galvez

Adil said the firefight involved the families of Makasasa and Mangelen, both MILF members who had been embroiled in a long-standing “rido” (family feud).

No casualty had been recorded so far, he said.

Adil led the distribution of food packs to the affected families who sought shelter in relatives’ homes in nearby villages and the town center of Tugunan. More families also left Sitio Tubak of Pagangan in Aleosan and took shelter in the homes of relatives in adjacent villages.

Adil said at least seven houses in Sitio Tubak were razed to the ground by one of the warring families.

The MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities already mediated to pacify the warring parties, who both agreed to a temporary ceasefire. However, the fighting was still raging as of Monday afternoon, he said. —Drema Quitayen Bravo