100 families flee from fighting among Moro rebels

Fighting between two Moro rebel groups over parcels of land has displaced more than 100 families in Tulunan, North Cotabato, according to the military.

Colonel Leopoldo Galon, speaking for the Eastern Mindanao Command, said sporadic skirmishes started early Sunday and continued yesterday morning between a group led by Sukarno, a former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander, and the group of Jun Pananggulon, head of the MILF’s 108th Base Command.

“They were fighting over parcel of lands near the marshland,” Galon said.

The clashes in the borders of Barangay (village) Dungos in Tulunan, North Cotabato, and Barangay Pedtad in SK Pendatun, Maguindanao, have already resulted in the death of one of Pananggulon’s followers, identified as Guiamalel Benj, and the wounding of three others.

Local residents, mostly Muslims, have fled to Tulunan and sought refuge at the municipal gymnasium where they are being attended to by social workers.

Sukarno and his followers have left the MILF’s 108th Base Command to work as security personnel of the Florista Banana plantation. They have been occupying portions of lands near the plantation, which is also being claimed by the group of Pananggulon, Galon said.

Three days earlier, armed men believed to be Pananggulon’s followers fired a rocket-propelled grenade toward a backhoe used by the banana firm.

The Army’s 6th Infantry Division said it would not interfere in the conflict to allow MILF officials settle the dispute among their men.

Confirming that the fighting was triggered by a land dispute, Von Al Haq, MILF spokesperson, said an emissary had already been sent by the Front’s central committee to prevent the escalation of the conflict. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao