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This is not what peace looks like.
“More than 8,000 families have been displaced by the recent clashes between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Central Mindanao,” reports Alexis Romero in The Philippine Star.
The report noted: “The groups are reportedly fighting for control over portions of the Liguasan Delta at the Maguindanao-North Cotabato border.”
According to Cynthia Ortega, chief of the North Cotabato disaster risk reduction and management council, “six North Cotabato villages – Barungis, Bagoinged, Buliok, Rajah Muda, Bulol and Kabasalan – were affected by the firefights.”
Meanwhile, rmed Forces public affairs chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc revealed that “families from Pagalungan town in Maguindanao also evacuated due to tension between the MILF and the BIFF.”
“The families are in evacuation centers in Pagalungan and Pikit. The local governments are assisting them,” Cabunoc said.
The encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan 25 left 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) dead. The PNP-SAF troopers had been out to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman. Both men had bounties on their heads placed by the U.S. government: US$5 million for Marwan and US$1 million for Usman.
The operation turned bloody when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had to fight back because the PNP-SAF had breached their territory. They alleged that they had not been informed about the operation to get Marwan and Usman. The hostile encounter lasted 11 hours. The MILF lost 18 of their fighters.
Both the government and the MILF are currently doing probes on the Mamsapano encounter to determine what went wrong, as the incident threatens the Bangsamoro peace deal.
