Clan war involving MILF commander spark anew

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Tension between a big Muslim clan and a marauding group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Pikit, North Cotabato escalated anew on Monday after rebels set on fire a house located in an area controlled by the other camp.

The recurring firefights between the Tayuan family and the group of Commander Kuyu of the MILF’s 105th Base Command started in December 30 last year, according to Inspector Elias Dandan, chief of the Pikit municipal police.

The Tayuans and Kuyu’s group are squabbling for control of strategic patches of lands at the border of Barangay Langayen in Pikit and Dungguan area in Aleosan town, also in North Cotabato.

The animosity between the two groups escalated last month when Kuyu and his men reportedly killed a barangay official in Langayen, who was related to the Tayuans.

The Tayuans belong to the Moro National Liberation Front.

Col. Prudencio Asto, public affairs chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said gunmen believed to be followers of Kuyu, raided a village in Barangay Langayen Sunday and burned down a shanty of a farmer named Barotoy Bukah.

Bukah is a follower of the Tayuan family.

Asto said officials of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion, which has jurisdiction over Pikit and surrounding towns, have been trying to convince the feuding groups to reposition away from the disputed areas to enable the joint GPH-MILF ceasefire committee to come in and settle the conflict peacefully.

The government and the MILF, under the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities, are to mutually cooperate in addressing peace and security issues besetting potential flashpoint areas in the south.

Dandan said tension in villages at the boundary of Barangays Langayen and Dungguan have been high, without any temporary solution in place to stave off the escalation of hostilities between the Tayuans and Kuyu’s group.

Three members of a village militia, Kanapia Musa and siblings Eric and Kamir Pasandalan, wounded when Kuyu and his men attacked Barangay Langayen last Thursday.

Kuyu and his followers attacked from direction, triggering a 30-minute gunbattle with the combined Tayuans and members of the Langayen community militia that sent dozens of villagers running for their lives.