Thursday, January 21, 2016

North Cotabato town exec mediates warring MILF families

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 21): North Cotabato town exec mediates warring MILF families

PIGCAWAYAN, North Cotabato -- Local officials here have been mediating an in-fighting involving Moro rebels that already affected civilians and students in a farming village here.

”We are doing our best, we reached out to warring families,” Pigcawayan Mayor Herminio Roquero assured residents of the farming village of Burikain.

More than 200 pupils of Burikain Elementary School have skipped classes on advise of the local government to ensure their safety as warring members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been trading bullets in and around the village of Burikain.

Abdullah Maraguir, secretary of Barangay Burikain, said classes are still suspended to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils.

He said the suspension has been going on for a week now.

Roquero said pupils are accommodated in nearby barangay school so their studies are not affected while efforts are underway to settle the land dispute.

Maraguir said more than 60 percent of the residents of Barangay Burikain have moved to nearby villages for security reason.

He refused to identify the protagonists in the land dispute but said they all belonged to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Maraguir believed a third party was involved that ignited the armed conflict.

The conflict erupted in December when armed men stormed the village killed a farmer who are related to another MILF leader. Retaliatory attacks followed, forcing residents to flee.

Roquero said some of the displaced families are now housed at the municipal gymnasium while others return to their farms at day time move back to town gymnasium at night.

Roquero said involved in the peaceful settlement of the conflict are members of the International Monitoring Team and the GPH-MILF ceasefire panel.

Government forces were also deployed in the village to serve as peacekeepers and ensure the safety of civilians.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=848772

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.