Maguindanao ‘lumad’ arm selves vs BIFF

MAGUINDANAO—Members of Teduray communities are now arming themselves to fight Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) members who prey on them.

“When they (BIFF) harass us again, we are arming ourselves,” said corn farmer Roel Ingan after BIFF members attacked Teduray villages in three Maguindanao towns shortly before Christmas.

He said some members of the Teduray communities on Mt. Firis had started taking up arms.

Indigenous weapons like spears, machetes, bows and arrows are no match for the automatic rifles of pro-Islamic State terrorists but the Teduray needed to fight to protect themselves, he said. —EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ