Army ready to intervene vs warring MILF groups in Maguindanao
COTABATO CITY—Military authorities in Maguindanao del Sur warned warring Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) factions involved in “internal hostilities” over the weekend that they would face military offensives if they would not stop fighting.
Gunfight broke out separately among six groups of Moro rebels locked in ‘rido’ (family feud) on July 5 along the borders of Maguindanao del Sur, the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area (SGA) and Cotabato province, sending hundreds of civilians fleeing to safer grounds, according to Lt. Col. Roden Orbon, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
More than 70 families from the affected villages were forced to flee on Saturday, but immediately returned home when the sporadic gunfight stopped, the military said.
“While we recognize the primacy of the peace process (between the government and the MILF), the military will not hesitate to intervene if the safety of the civilians is at stake,” Orbon said in Filipino.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police have tried not to get involve in the internal conflicts among MILF factions after the former rebel group forged a peace agreement with the government in 2014, which led to the formal creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim MIndanao (BARMM) in 2019 and its interim governing body, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. The BARMM leadership, including many of the ministers of the Bangsamoro Cabinet and members of the interim parliament, were leaders of the MILF.
Hit by stray bullet
Police Capt. Guieseppe Tamayo, speaking for the Maguindanao del Sur Police Provincial Office (PPO), said the civilian victim named “Mansur” was still recuperating in a hospital in Cotabato City.
“Our military commanders in the area are now holding dialogues with the warring groups even as we warn them that we will use armed intervention once the conflict involving them reoccurs in these areas,” Orbon said.
Orbon said efforts to end the fighting and protect the civilians were ongoing but some gunmen involved in the conflict seemed to be not heeding the military’s warning.
To ensure that civilians who returned home were secured, the Army deployed peacekeeping forces from the 34th and 6th Infantry Battalions.
Orbon identified two of the personalities involved in the conflict as MILF Commander Karis Bationg, based in Barangay Duaminanga of Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, whose clan was fighting against the group of Commander Marox of Barangay Lomopog, Nabawalag town in SGA. (The SGA used to be villages in Cotabato province that joined the BARMM and became new eight towns under the Bangsamoro region).
Another MILF group led by Commander Musanip, of Barangay Kalipapa in Datu Piang town, clashed with the group of Commander Zukarno Tayuan in Barangay Lomopog; while the group of MILF Commander Yasser Abunawas, of Barangay Alonganin in Datu Piang, exchanged gunfire with the group of Commander Taning in Barangay Damatulan in Midsayap town, Cotabato province.
“These groups are from the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) of the MILF under 105th Base Command,” Orbon said.
According to Orbon, “the firefights that occurred in succession were triggered by one incident after another and were also triggered by long standing personal grudges.”
The groups were positioned across river-divided territories, the military official said.
After negotiations on Monday, some of the factions surrendered three high-powered firearms to the military, Orbon said.
