300 families flee BARMM villages as 2 MILF groups clash
COTABATO CITY—At least 300 families fled their homes on Sunday, the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, as a firefight erupted between warring groups under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the town of Tugunan in the Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Tugunan Mayor Abdullah Abas said the displaced families, who are all Muslims, mainly came from Barangay Macabual, where the firefight started around 9 p.m. on Sunday, just as those of the Islamic faith began the Ramadan fasting from sunup to sundown.
The clashing groups were forces of Comm. Kandotoy Abdullah of the MILF national guard and those under Apang Abdulkarim of the MILF’s 118th Base Command, according to Lt. Col. Roden Orbon, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
Another 30 families from neighboring Barangay Balong also left their houses for fear of being hit in a crossfire.
Tugunan is one of the eight newly created towns in the SGA, composed of villages formerly within Cotabato province that joined BARMM.
‘Help us’
Earlier, Datu Dimaukom Kungma, a resident of Barangay Macabual, appealed to the MILF leadership, who now lead the BARMM government, to intervene and settle the conflict so that the warring parties would stop and would not disrupt the observance of the fasting month.
The displaced families were currently housed at the village center of Balong, according to the mayor.
“We appeal to the Army, to the BARMM to please help us stop this war because we are fasting. It’s very hard for us to evacuate,” Kungma told a local radio station in Midsayap, Cotabato province.
Orbon earlier reported that about the 15 families from Sitio Kaltan, Barangay Macabual, fled to nearby Barangay Balong.
He said the Army had sent troops from the 40th Infantry Battalion (IB) to back the Tugunan municipal police in restoring normalcy in the affected villages.
“Soldiers are meeting with MILF ceasefire panels to defuse the tension in the villages,” Orbon said, adding that more checkpoints were put up to separate the warring families.
Haron Amer, SGA coordinator of the BARMM Ministry of Social Services and Development, extended emergency food and nonfood aid to affected families and also deployed additional food packs in case the situation deteriorates.
The Army said the conflict in Barangay Macabual started on March 1 during “Taraweeh,” a night prayer performed during Ramadan, when two men were shot and one of them died.
‘Rido’
Killed was Comm. Pli Zacaria Abdulkarim of MILF national guard, prompting his relatives to retaliate the following day, attacking the position of Abdullah, who lost one of his men during the ensuing firefight.
Late Sunday night, the firefight continued sporadically, prompting families in the area to flee to avoid being caught in the crossfire. On Monday morning, the village was eerily quiet.
Kalim Sagandal, a resident of Barangay Macabual, said the Abdullah and Abdulkarim families were locked in a long-standing family feud, locally known as “rido.”
Sagandal said he expected the skirmishes to continue after the death of Abdulrakim unless authorities would settle the “rido.”
Another firefight also erupted on Sunday between other MILF groups in Barangay Tonganon, Carmen, Cotabato province, roughly 29 kilometers from Tugunan town. But the Army’s 40th IB, under Lt. Col. Erwin Jay Dumaghan, quickly sent soldiers in the village, resulting in the arrest of three suspects and the confiscation of their firearms.
