600 families displaced by North Cotabato clan feud
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Hundreds of families were displaced by gunfights over the weekend between feuding groups in Pikit, North Cotabato while other rival factions figured in deadly showdowns in towns nearby.
The clashes in Barangays Balungis and Balatican in Pikit, located in the first district of North Cotabato, involved two heavily-armed clans, one identified with the Moro National Liberation Front, the other led by a commander in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Faried Solaiman Adas, an Islamic theologian speaking for MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari, said Monday a number of their companions were killed when a group from the MILF attacked their enclaves in Barangays Balungis and Balatican.
"We lost members in that incident. That is what I can confirm for now," Adas told reporters on Monday morning.
Pikit is a common bastion of both former rebel groups.
Senior police and Army officials in North Cotabato announced Monday the displacement of no fewer than 600 families due to the hostilities.
Station dxMY of the Radio Mindanao Network reported Monday that besides the hostilities in Balungis and Balatican, exchanges of automatic gunfire were also heard in Barangays Takepan, Talitay and Bulol in the same town.
The incident was preceded by bloody encounters between heavily-armed groups in Barangays Kilada and Marbel in nearby Matalam, North Cotabato that traditional leaders are now trying to resolve amicably.
The hostilities in Matalam erupted when gunmen identified with the MILF killed in an ambush Norodin Solaiman Ambel, a senior MNLF leader in Barangay Kilada.
Relatives of Ambel raided the enclaves of their adversaries the next day, sparking a series of clashes that sent more than a thousand villagers running for their lives.
The police said sporadic clashes between feuding groups also rocked remote barangays in the second district of Maguindanao province just as rival clans fought in Pikit last weekend.
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