FIGHTING intensified in Central Mindanao on Friday morning as 300 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters attacked a military column and caused the burning of an armored vehicle at Datu Unsay town in North Cotabato.
Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Restituto Padilla said the fighting erupted after a military convoy was fired upon by the BIFF rebels, forcing the troops to retaliate and sparking a battle that was still raging at press time.
comrades who were attacked by Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters at Datu Unsay, Maguindanao on Friday.
The Cotabato-General Santos national highway was
temporarily closed due to the on-going battle. OMAR MANGORSI
A passing private Starex Van were also fired upon by the rebels but no one was hurt, Padilla said.
The flow of commerce along the national highway linking Maguindanao and Cotabato provinces was also stopped because the battle.
Padilla said the BIFF rebels were led by Commander Bungos, the same rebel leader who figured in the slaying of 44 Special Action Force commandos in Mamasapano last January 25.
“Our troops are pursuing the BIFF contingent under Commander Bungos who reportedly laid improvised explosive devices and landmines along the highway,” Padilla said.
He said the fighting has affected the towns of Sharrif Aguak, Shariff Saydona, Datu Unsay and Mamasapano and has forced civilians to evacuate. The fighting first erupted in Barangay Bagan in Guindulungan town and spilled-over to Shariff Aguak.
Reports said the BIFF rebels who were overwhelmed by the military’s firepower and sought shelter at nearby camps of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Malacañang, meanwhile, said the government is ready to provide assistance to families affected by the ongoing military campaign against rebels in Mindanao.
“We have gotten reports that there are evacuations, or at least families are moving to avoid fighting. We do make sure that these families make it to a safe place,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said during the daily press briefing in Malacañang on Friday.
“It has happened in the past that we have opened evacuation centers for them. We do provide support and assistance,” added Valte.
She said government troops were deployed in Mindanao to go after lawless elements, including the BIFF, one of the rebel groups implicated in the Mamasapano massacre.
Valte said that “extreme care” is being undertaken “to make sure that civilians are not harmed in these operations.”
At the same time, the regional office of the Department of Education called on the military and the BIFF to spare the children and local schools from their conflict.
Dr. Allan Farnazo, DepEd Region 12 director, said both parties should exert efforts to make sure that school children and local schools will not be affected by their operations.
The official said that women and children are the most vulnerable and suffer the most when conflicts arise in their communities.
He said it could be seen in the latest conflict in parts of Pikit, North Cotabato between the BIFF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Around 2,500 pupils and students were earlier reported displaced by the clashes that affected 10 villages of Pikit.
“I hope both parties will put premium in their minds that women and children should always be spared from any conflict,” he said.
Farnazo said they should make sure that classes in schools will not be disrupted and used in any way for their operations.
He said the International Humanitarian Law and several other United Nations conventions specifically prohibit the use of schools for any purpose in armed conflicts.
“Schools should not be used as meeting places, operations base and command centers,” the official said.
Farnazo said both parties should instead regard schools in the entire region as “zones of peace.”
DepEd-12 declared all schools in the region in late 2013 as peace zones in a bid to protect pupils and students in from conflicts and various forms of violence.
The declaration was aimed to establish all local private and public schools as neutral grounds in case armed conflicts would occur in any locality within the region.
Such declaration was mainly an offshoot of a memorandum earlier issued by the DepEd central office that enjoined schools “in areas with armed conflict and/or peace and order problems” to post banners identifying them as peace zones.
The banners are printed with the message: “This school is a zone of peace, huwag po kaming idamay sa mga kaguluhan (please spare us from conflicts).”
DepEd records showed that the region has a total of 1,707 pre-schools, 1,692 public elementary and 402 secondary or high schools.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/02/28/mindanao-clashes-heat-up/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.