MILF infighting sends civilians fleeing in Maguindanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY  – Hostilities between rival Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur, erupted anew before dawn Wednesday, uprooting civilians from their homes, officials said.

Shariff Aguak Vice Mayor Hadji Oping Ampatuan said the infighting among MILF members broke out in Barangay Bialong but was immediately defused on Tuesday by the peace mechanisms of the government and the MILF.

“However, fighting between the same groups erupted anew at about 1 a.m. Wednesday,” Ampatuan said.

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READ: 1 dead, 2 critically hurt in MILF infighting in Maguindanao del Sur

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Montassir Saliao, head of the Shariff Aguak Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said at least 65 families, or about 325 individuals from the villages of Bialong, Malingao and Lapok fled to adjacent Barangay Takepan for safety.

“The number of affected families may increase if our assessment and evaluation is completed,” Saliao told the Inquirer on Wednesday.

He noted they are verifying information about a child being killed by a stray bullet.

Several civilians, bringing their valuables, fled Sitio Kuta, Barangay Bialong starting past noon Tuesday for fear they would be caught in the crossfire.

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“There was a security threat; we need to move out because we don’t want to be trapped between warring armed groups,” Sabpan Adil Mulong said in the vernacular in her Facebook post.

“A ‘rido’ (clan feud) exists between armed groups, so we are evacuees again,” Mulong said, adding that when situations like these occur in remote communities, the best thing to do is to move out quickly.

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Lt. Colonel Ronald Suscano, 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said the long-standing territorial dispute between MILF warring groups was recently “settled” by Shariff Aguak Mayor Akmad “Mitra” Ampatuan.

READ: Army warns intervention vs warring MILF groups in Maguindanao del Sur

Vice Mayor Ampatuan appealed to Shariff Aguak residents, particularly in Barangay Bialong, to remain calm “because the police and the military, as well as the government-MILF ceasefire panels, are addressing the situation.”

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The official called on the warring groups to settle their dispute peacefully, offering his office as a mediation venue./coa