Sectors seek swift settlement of bloody feud between 2 MILF groups

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Local leaders have urged two rival factions in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur to leave the municipality after exchanging shots on Wednesday, September 30, that left a Grade 5 pupil dead and caused the displacement of hundreds of poor families.

Officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region confirmed on Thursday that the hostilities involved two groups, from the MILF’s self-styled 105th and 118th Base Commands, both armed with combat rifles, grenade and anti-tank rocket launchers, squabbling for control of strategic patches of land in Shariff Aguak’s adjoining Barangays Lapok, Bialong and Malingao.

Shariff Aguak Vice Mayor Datu Oping Ampatuan and his constituent community leaders separately urged on Thursday the leaders of the two large MILF blocs to settle amicably the deadly conflict between the two groups from both sides, now locked in A standoff in Barangays Lapok, Bialong and Malingao after Wednesday's firefights in the three barangays.

Officials of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and members of the multi-sector Shariff Aguak Municipal Peace and Order Council had separately told reporters that an 11-year-old boy was killed and a 23-year-old Moro farmer was wounded as the two feudal MILF groups traded shots that caused panic among villagers.

“The death of that boy who has nothing to do with that conflict broke out hearts,” lamented Ampatuan, who, as vice mayor, is also presiding officer of Shariff Aguak’s Sangguniang Bayan, whose members had also appealed to MILF leaders in the province to resolve the conflict.

Senior officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office had told reporters that they want the animosity between the two MILF groups settled immediately via measures set by the front and the government based on the modalities of the final peace compact that negotiators of both sides had crafted in 2019.

Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, acting commander of 6th ID, said their units in Shariff Aguak and nearby towns are on alert, ready for deployment as peacekeepers in the conflict-stricken Barangays Lapok, Bialong and Malingao if the enemy MILF forces return and clash again.

Tension in the three areas has waned but displaced villagers now in evacuation sites near the town center of Shariff Aguak are reluctant to return, worried of a repeat of Wednesday's gunfights that forced them to evacuate to neutral grounds.

Bunayog said officials of their units in Shariff Aguak, personnel of the municipal government and civilian emergency responders from the Maguindanao del Sur governor’s office are together attending to the needs of the evacuees.