Ex-MILF leader’s group pillages Cotabato village

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — A former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander and his men pillaged a remote North Cotabato village the other day, setting fire to more than a dozen houses.

The incident forced more than a hundred families in Barangay Tinimbakan in Banisilan town to flee their homes.

Police said Commander Pakil Ayunan, Central Mindanao’s second most wanted criminal with a P1-million bounty on his head, and his men robbed the villagers of their valuables and farm animals and torched their houses before fleeing.

Ayunan has long been wanted for multiple murder, kidnapping and cattle-rustling.

Lt. Col. Franklin del Prado, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said men of the 602nd Infantry Brigade are now hot on the trail of Ayunan and his followers.

Meanwhile, Del Prado said another group of soldiers has been dispatched to Barangay Tinimbakan to help pacify the warring clans of Tanda Sultan and Haron Laguiab.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, said no soldiers were involved in Tuesday’s hostilities in Banisilan, a corn-producing town in North Cotabato’s second district.

Kabalu said Sultan, a former MILF commander, and Laguiab, who are related to each other by blood and by affinity, are squabbling over arable lands in Barangay Tinimbakan. — John Unson