FRIGHTENING EXPERIENCE. An elderly Moro woman (right) narrates to North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco (left) on how she and her family fled to safety when the fighting ignited between the Ambel and Naga clans on April 29, 2020 that resulted to the evacuation of nearly 200 families in Barangays Kilada and Marbel of Matalam town in the province. The governor visited the evacuees on Sunday (May 3, 2020) and is scheduled to meet the elders of the warring clans to settle their decades-old quarrel. (Photo courtesy of North Cotabato PIO)
North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco on Sunday distributed relief goods to 910 families displaced by hostilities involving Moro clans locked in a family feud in the interiors of Matalam town.
After receiving briefings from police and military officials, Catamco proceeded on the same day to the villages of Marbel and Kidama in Matalam where the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) converged after they fled their homes when two Moro clans traded bullets in the periphery of Barangay Kilada, Matalam.
After listening to the stories of displaced families, Catamco asked officials of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade (Bde) and the North Cotabato police provincial office to ensure the safety of civilians. She also asked both military and police to assist the villagers' return to their communities once normalcy is restored.
Brigadier Gen. Roberto Capulong, 602Bde chief, assured Catamco and the people of Matalam that additional troops have been sent to ensure that conflict will not spill over to other areas.
“Once normalcy is restored, the Army will facilitate the return of affected civilians,” Capulong assured the governor during an interview by reporters.
Colonel Henry Villar, North Cotabato police director, said police peacekeepers have been deployed near the encounter site of the Ambel and Naga clans.
“The fighting area is about three kilometers away from civilian communities,” he told the governor.
Families of Datu Dima Ambel, chair of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in North Cotabato, and Naig Naga of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been at war even before the ambush-slay of Councilor Norodin Ambel on April 29 in Barangay Marbel.
Councilor Ambel of Barangay Kilada, who died on the spot in the ambush, is the son of MNLF-Cotabato chair Dima Ambel. With him was Barangay Kilada chairperson Rowena de Leon who was critically injured.
The Ambel-Naga family feud dates back to the early 1990s. As a result of the ongoing conflict, more than 900 families near the areas of the Ambels and the Nagas fled to safer grounds so as not to be caught in the crossfire.
Dayang Naga, a 69-year-old resident of Barangay Marbel, said she has been staying in the evacuation center for three days now together with her two grandchildren.
“Despite the prevailing threat of coronavirus disease 2019 that forced us to stay home, we have no choice but to flee,” she said in the vernacular. “We now have two enemies, bullets and the virus.”
She reminded the affected families in the evacuation sites on the importance of wearing face masks, physical distancing, and eating vegetables and other healthy food to boost their immune system.
The governor is expected to sit down with the elders of warring families for a diplomatic solution to the problem. Guns have been silent in the battlefront as a ceasefire has been in effect since Catamco's visit.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1101769
After receiving briefings from police and military officials, Catamco proceeded on the same day to the villages of Marbel and Kidama in Matalam where the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) converged after they fled their homes when two Moro clans traded bullets in the periphery of Barangay Kilada, Matalam.
After listening to the stories of displaced families, Catamco asked officials of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade (Bde) and the North Cotabato police provincial office to ensure the safety of civilians. She also asked both military and police to assist the villagers' return to their communities once normalcy is restored.
Brigadier Gen. Roberto Capulong, 602Bde chief, assured Catamco and the people of Matalam that additional troops have been sent to ensure that conflict will not spill over to other areas.
“Once normalcy is restored, the Army will facilitate the return of affected civilians,” Capulong assured the governor during an interview by reporters.
Colonel Henry Villar, North Cotabato police director, said police peacekeepers have been deployed near the encounter site of the Ambel and Naga clans.
“The fighting area is about three kilometers away from civilian communities,” he told the governor.
Families of Datu Dima Ambel, chair of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in North Cotabato, and Naig Naga of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been at war even before the ambush-slay of Councilor Norodin Ambel on April 29 in Barangay Marbel.
Councilor Ambel of Barangay Kilada, who died on the spot in the ambush, is the son of MNLF-Cotabato chair Dima Ambel. With him was Barangay Kilada chairperson Rowena de Leon who was critically injured.
The Ambel-Naga family feud dates back to the early 1990s. As a result of the ongoing conflict, more than 900 families near the areas of the Ambels and the Nagas fled to safer grounds so as not to be caught in the crossfire.
Dayang Naga, a 69-year-old resident of Barangay Marbel, said she has been staying in the evacuation center for three days now together with her two grandchildren.
“Despite the prevailing threat of coronavirus disease 2019 that forced us to stay home, we have no choice but to flee,” she said in the vernacular. “We now have two enemies, bullets and the virus.”
She reminded the affected families in the evacuation sites on the importance of wearing face masks, physical distancing, and eating vegetables and other healthy food to boost their immune system.
The governor is expected to sit down with the elders of warring families for a diplomatic solution to the problem. Guns have been silent in the battlefront as a ceasefire has been in effect since Catamco's visit.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1101769
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