Firefight erupts between MILF factions over land dispute

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 16): Firefight erupts between MILF factions over land dispute

A firefight erupted between two factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) late Wednesday in the tri-borders of this city and Sultan Mastura and Sultan Kudarat towns in Maguindanao, causing panic among residents in the area.

Senior Superintendent Rolly Octavio, city police director, said residents of the city’s Barangay Kalanganan 1 situated near the encounter site scampered to safety after the MILF factions of sub-commanders Malating and Jurbaran traded shots around 6 p.m.
“Nobody was reported hurt in the incident,” he said.

Octavio said the firefight only ceased an hour later after top leaders of the MILF at Camp Darapanan in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, arrived at the site to pacify the warring factions.

Accordingly, the two camps have long been at odds due to an unsettled claim over a big parcel of land along the boundary.

Octavio said military and police forces, along with their MILF counterparts, have been deployed in the area to prevent a repetition of the incident.

The MILF, once the biggest Moro rebel group in Mindanao, is now working side by side with state forces in the maintenance of peace in communities brought about by President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent signing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law that paves the way for the establishment of the MILF-led Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the island-region.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1045109