Attacks alarm villagers in Maguindanao town

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – Tension lingers in areas near the disputed 60-hectare fishpond in a coastal district in nearby Parang town in Maguindanao, where three villagers have been killed by gunmen in a series of recent attacks.

Local villagers have urged, through Catholic station dxMS here, the Parang municipal police and their local government units to focus attention on their community's security problem.

Barangay folks told dxMS that the tension in Sitio Banisilan in Barangay Landasan, a seaside area in Parang, started last September when gunmen shot dead a villager named Enerio Gepte Jr.

Gepte was reportedly foraging for inland fish species in a strategic spot inside the 60-hectare fishpond when gunmen came close and shot him with assault rifles.

Two more villagers were killed in the area several weeks later.

Local folks told dxMS that there is a group trying to drive them away from the fishpond so the group could take over the area.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, said he has ordered the municipal peace and order council of Parang to immediately address the security problem in Barangay Landasan.

Mangudadatu also asked the natural resources department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to find out who the owner is of the fishpond owing to reports that the armed group threatening local folks has also been claiming ownership of the land.  - John Unson