TIGHT SECURITY. Policemen from Pikit, North Cotabato, conduct a checkpoint along the national highway on Tuesday (July 30) as part of preemptive measures against the possible escalation of the ongoing skirmishes between Army forces and the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the area. (Photo courtesy of Pikit MPS)
The town government of Pikit in North Cotabato is currently attending to the needs of some 829 families or about 4,145 individuals affected by ongoing military operations against Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the border of Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces.
Tahera Kalantungan, Pikit municipal disaster risk reduction and management action officer, said in a radio interview Tuesday that the bulk of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are staying at an evacuation center in Sitio Tuka, Barangay Macasendeg, Pikit.
“Some of the IDPs also stay in public schools in Barangay Kabasalan, Macasendeg and Paidu Pulangi, all in Pikit,” Kalantungan said.
Amanah Baylon, one of the IDPs, said they are "afraid to go home as of now. We will stay here in the meantime until the conflict is over”.
Kalantungan said some of the displaced families they are assisting are from the other side of the Pagalungan River in Barangay Dasawao in Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao, which has also been affected by the ongoing skirmishes.
“We attend to their (Maguindanao evacuees) needs because disaster response recognizes no boundary,” she said in the vernacular.
The vast Pagalungan River separates the towns of Pikit in North Cotabato and Shariff Saydona Mustapha in Maguindanao.
On July 25, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID) has launched air and ground assaults against the BIFF in the boundary of North Cotabato and Maguindanao after confirming reports of rebels massing up in the area.
Major Gen. Diosdado Carreon, 6ID commander, said nine BIFF rebels and a soldier were so far killed in the skirmishes. Military clearing operations are still ongoing as of this posting.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1076426
Tahera Kalantungan, Pikit municipal disaster risk reduction and management action officer, said in a radio interview Tuesday that the bulk of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are staying at an evacuation center in Sitio Tuka, Barangay Macasendeg, Pikit.
“Some of the IDPs also stay in public schools in Barangay Kabasalan, Macasendeg and Paidu Pulangi, all in Pikit,” Kalantungan said.
Amanah Baylon, one of the IDPs, said they are "afraid to go home as of now. We will stay here in the meantime until the conflict is over”.
Kalantungan said some of the displaced families they are assisting are from the other side of the Pagalungan River in Barangay Dasawao in Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao, which has also been affected by the ongoing skirmishes.
“We attend to their (Maguindanao evacuees) needs because disaster response recognizes no boundary,” she said in the vernacular.
The vast Pagalungan River separates the towns of Pikit in North Cotabato and Shariff Saydona Mustapha in Maguindanao.
On July 25, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID) has launched air and ground assaults against the BIFF in the boundary of North Cotabato and Maguindanao after confirming reports of rebels massing up in the area.
Major Gen. Diosdado Carreon, 6ID commander, said nine BIFF rebels and a soldier were so far killed in the skirmishes. Military clearing operations are still ongoing as of this posting.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1076426
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