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John Unson - Philstar.com
May 30, 2026 | 6:24pm
A police investigator inspects one of the houses in Kadayangan, Cotabato that gunmen shot with assault rifles on Wednesday night, May 27, 2026.
Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Hundreds of families that fled to safe areas after gunmen shot houses with rifles on Wednesday night, May 27, in their barangay in Kadayangan town in Cotabato province are reluctant to return to the area, apprehensive of a repeat of the attack.
Kadayangan is one of the eight newly-created towns in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area under the regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, but is inside the territory of Cotabato province in Administrative Region 12.
Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, separately told reporters on Saturday that local executives, Moro datus and Muslim religious leaders in the municipality are trying to resolve Wednesday’s incident in Purok 4 in Barangay Central Labas to enable displaced villagers to return to their homes in the area.
Moro community leaders and investigators from the Kadayangan Municipal Police Station had told reporters that the group that fired M16 assault rifles at the houses in Barangay Central Labas are locked in a “rido,” meaning clan war, with certain residents in the area.
A mother of three elementary school pupils, who asked to be identified only as Salama, told reporters on Saturday morning that one of the two rival groups has members closely related to barangay officials hostile to villagers who supported their political adversaries during the May 12, 2025 local elections.
"We are not involved in that conflict but we are the ones suffering most from its serious consequences," a 60-year-old farmer, Onting Amerudin, said in Filipino.
Officials of PRO-BAR and Bunayog, who has jurisdiction over Army units in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area in Cotabato province, had separately informed reporters via text message that they are optimistic that local executives in Kadayangan can settle the conflict involving the two groups and restore normalcy in the conflict-stricken Barangay Central Labas.
