14 dead as land conflict sparks clashes among ex-Moro rebels

MILITARY INTERVENES Soldiers from the 90th Infantry Battalion rush to Barangay Kilanan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur on Wednesday, Oct. 30, after warring former Moro rebels clashed due to land dispute, leaving at least 14 dead and five others wounded. —PHOTO COURTESY OF JESS ALI .

COTABATO CITY—A long standing animosity over land ownership had turned newfound enemies of former Moro guerrillas in Pagalungan town, Maguindanao del Sur, who once battled state forces together to dramatize their long-held aspiration for self-governance.

As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, Lt. Col. Rowel Gavilanes, commander of the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion, said they have counted 14 fatalities from the sporadic gunfights that erupted on Wednesday in Barangay Kilangan of Pagalungan between the group of Datu Alonto Sultan, and Ikot Dandua.

Both are said to be base commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) whose peace deal with the government in 2014 provides for a phased decommissioning of its former fighters and their weapons.

The deadly fighting in Pagalungan happened barely a week since five persons were also killed in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat of Maguindanao del Norte, on Sunday, in separate incidents happening in just six hours involving gun-totting civilians.

Pagalungan Vice Mayor Datu Salik Mamasabulod said on Thursday that a ceasefire is now in effect in Kilangan after military and police forces were deployed in the village to pacify both parties.

Lt. Col. Roden Orbon, speaking for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the Inquirer that soldiers were immediately deployed in the village to secure civilians as well as help in the recovery of cadavers.

Ceasefire violation

Aside from the dead, Orbon said five men who figured in the sporadic gunfights were wounded. Soldiers also recovered five high-powered firearms during clearing operations on Thursday, Orbon added.

Orbon said that as of Thursday afternoon, civilians have started returning to Kilangan after fleeing the village amid the skirmishes on Wednesday.

But Gavilanes said some 30 families have informed the Army they are still staying in their temporary shelter as they felt uneasy returning to the village.

On Thursday, Gavilanes and Nor Ali of the MILF ceasefire committee met to discuss the incident and come up with measures to prevent a recurrence of the bloody encounters.

The Army was also preparing a complaint against members of the MILF’s 128th and 105th base commands for violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Mamasabalud said the conflict between the respective clans of Sultan and Dandua involves ownership over some 290 hectares of farmlands in Sitio Gagerangen in Kilangan.

RUNNING SCARED Civilians, including children, leave their homes in several sub-villages in Barangay Kilanan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur and troop to the nearest road clearing on Wednesday, Oct. 30, as clashes between two groups of warring ex-Moro rebels escalates, with 14 persons so far dead. – PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE MAMALUMPONG .

Land claim

Sultan claimed they have a title over the tracts of land, handed to him by his parents, and on this basis, he vowed last April to bring his other clan members to resettle in Kilangan.

Dandua’s relatives, on the other hand, disputed Sultan’s claim saying they have been occupying and tilling the estate, mainly for rice, in the last four decades. They even branded the land title brandished by Sultan as fake.

Ali Ampatuan, a resident of Kilangan and relative of Dandua, said they held a protest rally last June to show their displeasure over Sultan’s plan to occupy the disputed land, vowing to prevent his relatives from entering the village.

Mamasabalud disclosed that the Pagalungan local government had mediated with the parties since last year, and had entered into peaceful settlements, the third one of which was forged on Sept. 25.

But hostilities sparked again, with the bloodiest happening last Wednesday, Mamasabalud lamented.