Mamasapano villagers still restive, 6 months after bloody encounter

A CORN farmer crosses the makeshift wooden bridge in Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province six months after the tragedy that killed 44 Special Action Force members. RICHEL V. UMEL/ INQUIRER MINDANAO

TUKANALIPAO, Mamasapano, Maguindanao—Residents here remain restive and wary of massive violence that could disrupt their lives anew, six months after the Jan. 25 clash that left 64 people, 44 of them elite policemen, dead.

The said clash, which took place while members of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) were withdrawing after killing Malaysian terror suspect Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” threw this once obscure village into the spotlight and dragged the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law down.

More than 100,000 people from here and across 14 other Maguindanao towns had recently returned home after fleeing the military punitive actions against Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters gunmen who took part in the Jan. 25 clash.

Farmer Usman Lindugan, 42, told the Inquirer that on Thursday evening, residents prepared to evacuate anew when an explosion took place here.

“We were so nervous. We dropped on our bellies when the explosion took place. We were just waiting for another explosion before fleeing,” Lindugan said in Filipino.

He admitted that six months after the January clash that uprooted them from their homes, people here were still not fully comfortable.

They would turn fidgety at the faintest gunshot, more so with explosions, Lindugan said.

Twenty-three-year-old Sadam Gumanod, who was participating in the construction of the footbridge in lieu of the old wooden one here, said when the explosion occurred on Thursday evening, his family prayed that there would no longer be a second blast or gunfire.

Gumanod said a succeeding blast or gunfire would have sent them all anew to places they deemed safe, even if it meant hiking with children in tow in the dead of the night.

Col. Joel Mamon, commander of the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion, which has jurisdiction over the town, confirmed that an explosion indeed took place here on Thursday.

“Judging from the intensity of the blast, it was probably from an M203 rifle grenade or a 40-millimeter round,” Mamon said.

He said no one was injured in the explosion.

Mamon said the military was not able to identify the culprit aside from him being a civilian and his motive for setting off the explosion.

“It was fired more than a kilometer away from our detachment,” he said.

Lindugan said residents here were experiencing a relative peace since returning home after fleeing in March.

“It has been quiet until Thursday evening. The children already resumed playing there,” he said pointing to the cornfield across the river, where some of the SAF men had died.

Lindugan said they could only wish that peace would become permanent in this farming village so residents could resume their productive lives.

Earlier, Bangsamoro Grand Mufti Sheikh Abu Hurairah Abdulrahman Udasan called on Muslims to also uphold peace amid obstacles such as the Jan. 25 clash.

“I am reminding my Muslim brothers, let us uphold peace so that we can succeed in our quest for peace,” Udasan told reporters in Cotabato City on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr.

He said for peace to succeed, Muslims should learn to live according to what Islam teaches.

“Peace advocated in Islam must imply freedom, justice and security. Without it there will be no meaningful peace,” Udasan said, adding that peace starts with individuals.

Udasan also said it had already been expected that the road to peace was not as smooth “as we wanted it to be.”

“We hope we can overcome the challenges,” he said. Julie Alipala with a report from Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao