Midsayap evacuees start returning to their villages

MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato – Less than half of the almost 6,000 Muslim and Christian evacuees displaced by rebel-military encounters here have returned to their villages.

Ramil Timan, chairman of Barangay Mudseng where soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels figured in running gunbattles last Jan. 25 to 27, said Mudseng has since remained a "ghost town," because evacuees were reluctant to return to their homes due to marauding Moro gunmen reportedly bent on grabbing their lands.

Timan said he has told Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza during a dialogue Thursday that they want the joint ceasefire committee, the police and the military to establish a "peace-keeping contingent" in the area to ensure the safety of villagers.

"My constituents are so afraid of returning to their homes because they don’t feel secure from armed groups," Timan told reporters yesterday.

Officials of Barangay Nes here, among them Muslim village leaders, said tension in their villages and in Mudseng escalated anew last Wednesday after gunmen straffed houses at the boundary of the two areas, seriously wounding a mother and her nine-year-old child.

Dureza, during his visit here Thursday, activated a task force that would look into the long-time land disputes – involving MILF guerillas and villagers – that cause frequent skirmishes in at least four barangays in Midsayap.

The task force is composed of representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Agriculture, the military, the Philippine National Police, the local government of Midsayap, and barangay officials.

Dureza said the task force will gather recommendations from local farmers on how to peacefully resolve the land conflicts.

"President Arroyo want these conflicts resolved peacefully to the mutual understanding and benefit of all the protagonists and local sectors," Dureza told The Star.

The four hostile barangays is now covered by a low-level peace pact, forged by the joint ceasefire committee. It restrains MILF and military forces from initiating tactical maneuvers in the adjoining areas without prior coordination.