3,000 flee from MNLF, MILF standoff in North Cotabato village

MATALAM, North Cotabato, Philippines – Close to 3,000 individuals from three adjoining villages here have fled their homes as rival Moro rebel groups continue war posturing despite localized truce.

Additional Army Special Forces, backed by armored personnel carriers, have been deployed to Barangay (the village of) Marbel where Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces are separated only by an 800-meter-wide river.

Maguid Hussein, a purok (community) leader in the village of Kilada, said evacuees, mostly women and children, have trooped to their village Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, tagging along their work animals and valuables to evade possible large-scale skirmishes.

Chief Insp. Elias Dandan, Matalam police chief, said the situation has been fluid and could erupt anytime as both the MNLF and MILF forces tried to hold their ground.

“We are in between them,” Dandan said.

“The situation is normal at day time, but at night time, the situation is different.  We see and monitor a lot of movements of armed men,” Hussein said in an interview.

“At day time, they (MNLF and MILF forces) carefully watch each others’ movement that if one fires the first shot, large-scale skirmishes will ensue. That’s why the civilians have fled,” he said.

He also expressed fear the MILF might get back at him for accommodating relatives of MNLF forces from the villages of Elian and Marbel.

Capt. Antonio Bulao, speaking for the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, said a localized truce has been put to effect but both sides have refused to budge.

“More troops are coming for the MILF side from nearby towns,” he said.

Amilabai Sendig, an evacuee from Barangay Marbel and now temporarily housed at the Kilada barangay hall, said that based on experience, war would likely break out.

“There are plenty of armed men from MILF, and the MNLF are also armed. If they shoot each other, we will become collateral damage,” Sendig said as she tended to her carabao at a roadside along portions of Davao-Cotabato highway.

The conflict started last May 5 when the MILF went to promote the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement signed with the Aquino administration in 2012 in Barangay Marbel—a known peace zone of the MNLF after it signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996.

Dima Ambil, MNLF local leader, agreed to the holding of the advocacy forum provided the MILF did not carry guns. But he said the MILF arrived in full battle gear.

Bulao said Ambil was insulted and vowed to drive away armed MILF forces.

Two companies of Army backed by armored personnel carriers and policemen stand in between warring MNLF and MILF who, according to village officials, are related by blood and by affinity.

The Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team have been hopping back and forth, bridging peace with both sides to ensure no single shot is fired.