Tulunan mayor asks MILF to pull out marauding members

KORONADAL CITY - The municipal peace and order council (MPOC) of Tulunan town in nearby North Cotabato on Friday called on the joint ceasefire committee to work out the pullout of marauding Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels from local farming enclaves.

Tulunan Mayor Lani Candolada, the MPOC’s presiding chairperson, said the rebels have reneged from low-level security agreements restraining them from getting close to farms of unarmed ethnic Bilaans and Ilonggos in secluded villages at the border of Tulunan and Datu Paglas in Maguindanao province.

More than a hundred families have been displaced due to a series of encounters between MILF rebels and village watchmen in the area in the past three weeks.

Barangay officials said MILF rebels keep coming back in Barangay Maybula, located at the border of Tulunan and Datu Paglas, rob villagers of their farm animals and shoot houses with assault rifles as they leave.

Candolada said the rebels even established a “mini camp” at Purok Malipayon in Barangay Maybula, where there are several socio-economic projects being bankrolled by foreign donor outfits.

Candolada said her displaced constituents were disappointed with the military for having ignored their appeals for the setting up of a detachment in Barangay Maybula.

She said soldiers and policemen guarded the area after a recent attack, but left without notice, enabling the rebels to return and put up a makeshift camp.

Abner Maniba, speaking on behalf of the MILF’s 109th Base Command, earlier confirmed over Catholic station dxND in Kidapawan City that their guerillas have indeed returned to occupy strategic areas in Barangay Maybula.

A member of a local militia identified as Dondon Palomo was killed while two MILF guerillas were reportedly wounded in the latest encounter in Barangay Maybula between armed villagers and the rebels.