9 Zambo cultists slain

Nine cultists were killed and three others were wounded when they clashed with policemen at a coconut plantation in a remote island in Zamboanga del Sur last Wednesday, authorities said.

Reports said the policemen responded to the complaint of Bastam Casalim, head of Barangay Galas in Olutanga Island, that members of the Blessed Virgin Mary Philippines Crusada had stolen several sacks of copra.

The Olutanga policemen, however, were met by the cultists with gunfire, forcing them to retreat. The lawmen later returned with reinforcements from the 907th Provincial Mobile Group.

A four-hour gunbattle ensued between the policemen and the cultists, nine of whom lay dead after the fighting.

Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, PNP spokesman, said authorities will investigate the incident amid reports that the civilians were unarmed when they were killed.

Earlier, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo said that militiamen belonging to the 27th CAFGU Active Auxillary based in Barangay Sta. Maria, Suba Nipa, Zamboanga del Sur heard gunshots coming from Barangay Galas.

According to a military report submitted to Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes, the civilians were working on their coconut farm when the policemen fired at them without warning.

The report said investigators have been dispatched to establish the motive for the assault and identify and apprehend the suspects.

But the Agence France Press quoted Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Alcasid, commander of an infantry brigade in the area, as saying that the policemen were ambushed by the armed cultists, triggering a firefight.

Alcasid said the attackers are migrant farmers displaced by the Muslim separatist rebellion in Basilan.

"They are mostly Christian settlers affected by the war in Basilan" who moved to Olutanga about 10 years ago, he said.