Rival cults in Surigao Norte clash; 11 killed

At least 11 people were hacked to death as hundreds of rival cult members waged a machete battle at a cultist shrine in Surigao del Norte last Wednesday, Army officials.

About 100 members of the Christian Pulahan cult, armed with machetes and handgrenades and identified by red garments, surrounded 200 members of a rival cult, the Philippine Benevolent Missionary Association, at sunset at the shrine of their leader, Ruben Ecleo Jr., in Barangay Aurelio, San Jose town on Dinagat Island.

Police said Pulahan members held the rivals besieged in the shrine and cult headquarters until Thursday morning when the captives, wearing amulets they say make them invincible, rebelled with machetes, said Army Col. Leo Ferer.

Police said all 11 dead were Pulahans but the Army said only seven of the dead were Pulahan members.

At least one senior member of the other cult was hacked several times with machetes but survived, Ferer said.

Many other cult members were wounded but are in hiding to avoid arrest, police said. Police are searching for Pulahan cult leader Eddie Quiñanola for questioning.

Authorities sent 50 extra policemen and a small Army unit to the area to prevent new violence.

Such rivalry has killed dozens of Christian cultists so far this year, mostly in the southern Philippines. At least 20 people died in August as cultists clashed with police who tried to arrest one of their members.
Cult members in remote areas of the Philippines, a mostly Catholic nation, often combine traditional and Christian beliefs. The armed groups often act as vigilantes, helping authorities fight Muslim and communist insurgents. — Christina Mendez