Google map of Pikit, North Cotabato.
A blood feud or "rido" involving members of two clans erupted anew Sunday in the North Cotabato town of Pikit, sending some 1,500 families to safer grounds while they observe fasting for the Ramadan period.
Fueled by a land dispute, the armed conflict between the warring families have resulted in sporadic encounters that have escalated further as both sides used mortars and machine guns.
Worse, the protagonists raided and burned homes left by fleeing civilians and carted away valuables, food supplies, and work animals, including chickens, goats, carabaos, and cows, according to local and military officials.
Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan said skirmishes ignited again on Sunday in the villages of Takepan, Bulol, and Talitay between local factions of Moro National Liberation Front sub-commanders Jainudion Butuan and Kuwat, and the group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front base command sub-commanders Abdul Hamid Sansawi, Sambutuan, and Ekot.
Sultan had earlier gathered both sides to settle the dispute peacefully.
“The fighting slowed down but on Sunday, both sides exchanged bullets again,” Sultan said in a radio interview Monday.
“We pity these people, they avoid bullets but they could hardly move to safer places due to community quarantine,” the mayor added.
Sultan said emissaries of the MILF and MNLF have been sent to put an end to the "rido".
Likewise, the mayor said he has also sought the help of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade and North Cotabato police provincial office to send in peacekeepers to separate the warring families. Soldiers have been sent and fighting has ceased as of Monday morning.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1102438
Fueled by a land dispute, the armed conflict between the warring families have resulted in sporadic encounters that have escalated further as both sides used mortars and machine guns.
Worse, the protagonists raided and burned homes left by fleeing civilians and carted away valuables, food supplies, and work animals, including chickens, goats, carabaos, and cows, according to local and military officials.
Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan said skirmishes ignited again on Sunday in the villages of Takepan, Bulol, and Talitay between local factions of Moro National Liberation Front sub-commanders Jainudion Butuan and Kuwat, and the group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front base command sub-commanders Abdul Hamid Sansawi, Sambutuan, and Ekot.
Sultan had earlier gathered both sides to settle the dispute peacefully.
“The fighting slowed down but on Sunday, both sides exchanged bullets again,” Sultan said in a radio interview Monday.
“We pity these people, they avoid bullets but they could hardly move to safer places due to community quarantine,” the mayor added.
Sultan said emissaries of the MILF and MNLF have been sent to put an end to the "rido".
Likewise, the mayor said he has also sought the help of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade and North Cotabato police provincial office to send in peacekeepers to separate the warring families. Soldiers have been sent and fighting has ceased as of Monday morning.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1102438
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.