NORTH COTABATO, Philippines --- Rival forces of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) clashed in Carmen town on Thursday, dislocating Muslim and Christian villagers.
The hostilities involved the group of Commander Karim of the 110th Base Command of the MILF, and combined members of a community militia and MNLF forces led by Commander Minanimbong.
Local officials said the two groups are locked in squabbles over control of of pieces of land in Carmen’s Barangays Tonganon and Tupig, where local folks rely on rice and corn farming as main source of income.
Captain Tony Bulao, spokesman of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said the hostilities erupted at about 3 p.m. Thursday when
Karim and his men, along with a certain Commander Tarzan, blocked a farm-to-market road connecting the two barangays, preventing farmers from selling their harvests to the municipal market.
Barangay folks said the groups of Tarzan and Karim barricaded at one stretch of the thoroughfare after local peasants ignored their demand for “zakat,†or obligatory donation, both as "protection fee" and revolutionary tax.
MNLF forces in the two barangays and village watchmen joined ranks and attempted to drive the two groups away, triggering a running firefight.
The provincial peace and order council of North Cotabato, chaired by Gov. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza, dispatched on Friday relief teams to attend to the needs of dislocated villagers.
Mendoza also sent emissaries to convince the two groups to disengage and move away from the roads traversing Barangays Tonganon and Tupig.