Moros clash in North Cotabato; 40 houses set on fire

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Two rival Moro factions clashed the other day in Midsayap, North Cotabato and set on fire 40 houses before retreating to nearby hinterlands just as responding soldiers and policemen started closing in.

Lt. Col. Franklin Del Prado, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said a contingent of soldiers, backed by militiamen, are now in pursuit of the two groups, one led by Samal Masgal and the other by Asraf Tayuan, who both have 30 or so armed followers each.

The groups of Masgal and Tayuan, long locked in bitter squabbles for control of arable lands in three adjoining barangays in Midsayap, figured in brief running gunbattles last weekend in two remote villages in the same municipality.

Sensing that soldiers and militiamen have started arriving at the scene to pacify them, the warring gunmen burned houses before fleeing, carting farm animals of hapless villagers.

Midsayap Mayor Romeo Araña, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, said he asked the military to establish detachments in strategic spots in areas often affected by the recurring hostilities between Masgal and Tayuan.

"The militiamen in the villages often affected by the conflict cannot do anything to stop them because these warring groups have better firepower and have more fighting men. Unless the military will put up detachments in these areas, the troubles there will persist," Araña lamented.