MILF rebels torch Maguindanao village

CAMP SIONGCO, Ma­guin­danao, Philippines – Moro rebels set on fire an entire village in Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao Monday night as a result of a long-standing feud involving a local politician and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Nobody was hurt, however, when some 300 guerrillas under the MILF’s 105th Base Command stormed the village of Barurao at around 10 p.m. Monday, said Lt. Col. Benjamin Hao, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Hao said the villagers were told to evacuate by MILF commanders Mestro Felmin and his brother Zain before they began torching the houses.

“This is shocking. I cannot imagine Moro rebels would burn the houses and properties of the same people they promised to protect and fight for,” he said. 

Hao said the Felmin brothers have had a long-standing family feud (rido) with former Sultan sa Barongis vice mayor Uka Badal.

“Most of the houses were owned by the relatives of Badal,” he said.

Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, admitted that the Felmin brothers were field commanders of the MILF’s 105th Base Command but said they acted on their own.

“That is not sanctioned by the MILF as an organization, it was a family feud brought about by land dispute,” he said, appealing to the military, through the joint ceasefire committee, not to intervene in the conflict.

Also on Monday night, suspected followers of a defeated mayoral candidate blasted an improvised explosive in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, killing a seven-year-old boy and wounding two municipal education officials.