COTABATO CITY — Gunfights between two heavily armed Moro groups marred the supposedly solemn observance of the first day of Ramadan, a holy month in Islam, in a barangay in Tugunan, Cotabato.
The hostilities on Sunday in Barangay Macabual between two rival factions in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forced hundreds of villagers to relocate to safe areas.
Tugunan is one of the eight newly created Bangsamoro towns in Cotabato province, which is inside the core territory of Region 12.
Citing reports by displaced villagers, officials of police and Army units in Cotabato province said on Monday that the encounters first erupted late Saturday when one of the two groups opened fire at residents who had just emerged from a mosque after a nighttime prayer.
The attack killed two, Peli M. Abdulkarim and Nhords L. Samama, and left a villager, Jaime S. Abdulkarim, wounded.
Subsequent exchanges of gunfire in Barangay Macabual ensued on Sunday, forcing innocent Moro villagers to abandon their homes for fear of getting trapped in the crossfire. The hostilities disrupted their supposed first daylong fasting on Sunday, the start of the Islamic Ramadan season.
Ranking officials of different ministries in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had told reporters that their chief minister, Ahod B. Ebrahim, who is chairman of the MILF’s central committee, has dispatched emissaries to reposition the feuding groups away from each other and settle the conflict amicably.
Local executives in Cotabato’s adjoining Aleosan, Pikit, and Kabacan towns, and in the nearby Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur had told reporters that the enemy MILF groups are squabbling for control of villages in Tugunan.
The tension between the two groups reportedly worsened after each supported rival candidates during the 2024 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. — John Felix M. Unson
