2 dead, 1 hurt in clash over farmland in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines  ---- Two armed peasants were killed while another was wounded in a 30-minute firefight on Sunday between two groups squabbling for control of farmlands in South Upi, Maguindanao.

Senior Inspector Roel Villarin, chief of the South Upi municipal police, said the encounter involved a group of about 10 Moro farmers armed with assault rifles, and another armed faction of indigenous Teduray tribesmen.

The two groups clashed Sunday morning at a contested corn farm in Sitio Bahar in Barangay Pandan, a secluded district in the northeast of South Upi, home to mixed Moro, Christian and lumad residents.

Villarin said a Teduray farmer named Celso Buludan, 43, was killed in the ensuing shootout.

“We were informed by barangay leaders that the Moro group sustained a fatality, but residents there refused to reveal to investigators the name of that person,” Villarin said.

Barangay folks said the slain Moro gunman was immediately buried by relatives in keeping with an Islamic tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours from the time of death.

A Teduray farmer, Alvin Manan, 30, who was wounded in the gunfight, was immediately transported by responding policemen and local officials to a hospital for medication.

Villarin said members of the Philippine Marines belonging to a battalion based near Sultan Kudarat province are now guarding Barangay Bahar to prevent further hostilities between the two groups.

Villarin said Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, has ordered local officials  to initiate efforts to settle the conflict.