An armed civilian and an alleged Moro rebel were killed while three others were wounded after they engaged in a running gun battle at the hinterlands of Barangay Maybula in Tulunan, around 4 a.m., on Sunday, police said Tuesday.
Sr. Insp. Ronnie Cordero, chief of Tulunan PNP, identified one of the fatalities as Dondon Palomo, one of the members of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team of Barangay Maybula and an employee of a banana plantation in Barangay Maybula.
Rose Abad, one of the residents of Sitio Saban in Barangay Maybula, said Palomo was one of their ‘war dogs’ or BPAT members who carried firearms to protect and secure their village from the attacks of the MILF.
“Si Palomo at mga BPAT ang pumuprotekta sa amin sa mga armado dun sa lugar. Pero napatay siya sa enkwentro. (It was Palomo and BPAT members that protect us from the armed men in the area. But he was killed during the encounter), said Abad.
Palomo’s body was recovered at Purok Malipayon in Barangay Maybula.
Also killed during the encounter was an MILF member whose body was recovered in nearby Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat, reports said.
Three other MILF members were wounded during the fighting, according to Cordero who used as basis in his statement a report from Columbio PNP.
Based on their initial investigation, Cordero said the skirmishes at Barangay Maybula started when the detachment of the Peacekeeping forces at Purok Malipayon was allegedly attacked by MILF rebels.
Cordero said the MILF fired mortars that landed near the camp of the 57th IB, around 4 a.m., on Sunday.
“Our government troops are on a defensive position. Since it was the MILF that first launched the attack, our soldiers have to defend their position. The soldiers saw the rebels getting nearer the detachment of the Peacekeeping Forces. So they returned fires,” said Cordero.
Palomo’s group, according to Cordero, came to help the soldiers in their fight against the MILF.
“May mga armed civilian ang nagtabang sa mga peacekeeping forces kay ang military gamay na lang, outnumbered sila. (There were armed civilians who helped the peacekeeping forces because our soldiers were already lacking in number),” said Cordero.
Palomo was hit on his stomach and died due to severe blood loss.
"Ang nahitabo, nag-atras ang mga MILF nga nag-harass og naay naigo nga sa mga nag-reinforce. (What happened was, the MILF rebels retreated when they were fired at by BPAT and government soldiers. This was when one of the BPATs was hit),” the police official said.
The renewed fighting between government troops and the MILF resulted to another wave of displacement of residents coming from five sitios near Barko-Barko, a place considered as a strategic military position but the MILF claimed it as part of their ‘perimeter defense’.
Eunice Tadiaque, secretary of Barangay Maybula, said the number of families that again evacuated to the village center reached 157 or 442 individuals, mostly women and children.
Around 10:30 a.m., on Monday, the soldiers positioned at the village center of Maybula rushed to Sitio Tuburan after they received reports that armed rebels are getting nearer the temporary detachment of the 57th IB.
Marivic Saban, one of the war victims, panicked when she saw a number of armed MILF rebels coming down from the mountains waving a red flag.
From 10:30 a.m., until 2 p.m., on Monday, the Army has fired at least five mortars in areas where they sighted the armed men.
In the midst of the fighting, Rose Abad, also one of the evacuees, has called on both warring forces to a ceasefire.
“Gusto na namin ng katahimikan. Ibigay n’yo naman sa amin ‘yan. Kasi hindi makapag-aral ang mga anak namin. Panay bakwit na lang kami. Dalawang beses na kaming nagbakwit. (We want peace. Please give that peace to us. Our children have not gone schools. We always evacuate. This is the second time that we left our homes)”, said Abad.
Last May, hundreds of families fled to the village center in Barangay Maybula after BPAT members and the MILF clashed in Purok Malipayon. The clashes started when armed BPATs allegedly entered ‘Barko-Barko’ after they chased a group of armed men they believed were responsible for series of cattle rustling in the area.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=535296
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