Authorities broker truce between rival MNLF forces in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Local officials managed to disengage late Tuesday rival forces of the Moro National Liberation Front  squabbling for territories at the border of two hinterland Maguindanao towns that dislocated more than 258  villagers.

The feuding MNLF groups, one led by Salipada Sumael of Barangay Ganassi in North Upi, and the other by Basco Omar of Barangay Lamod in South Upi, last fought each other Tuesday morning, sending villagers running for their lives.

North Upi Mayor Ramon Piang, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, said representatives of both sides signed a preliminary truce meant to deescalate the tension now gripping the adjoining Barangays Ganassi and Lamod.

Piang said emissaries of Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the largest  group in the MNLF, helped broker the peace pact.

The groups of Sumael and Omar have been squabbling for dominion over Moro and Teduray farming communities at the border of South and North Upi towns. The animosity between them was worsened by differing political allegiances during the May 13 polls.

The Omars reportedly supported the candidacy for mayor of South Upi of a clan member, Vice-Mayor Baba Omar, while Sumael and his men campaigned for one of Omar's  rivals for the town’s mayoral post.

The latest hostilities between the two groups erupted when the Omars disarmed two members of the other group following the botched attempt to kill the vice-mayor in an ambush in North Upi two days before the May 13 elections.

The two groups first figured in a showdown May 17, causing panic among farming communities at the boundary of the two towns.

Piang said community elders have also been helping resolve the conflict.

The 1st Marine Brigade, which has jurisdiction over South Upi, said  they asserted "government authority” by separating the groups of Sumael and Omar if they refused to reposition away and allow the return of displaced villagers to the conflict-stricken villages.

The two groups used assault rifles and shoulder-fire grenades as they tried to outgun each other Tuesday morning.