Ambush of farmers hampers return of evacuees in MNLF enclave

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines  --- The fatal ambush of two farmers in Matalam, North Cotabato by suspected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has hampered the efforts of local officials to bring evacuees to their home in an enclave of the Moro National Liberation Front.

The victims, Toto Manial and Eddie Buisan, were killed while trying to  return to the area to check on their abandoned farms.

Manial and  Buisan, were on their way to the MNLF stronghold in Barangay Marbel in Matalam when suspected MILF rebels blocked their path and shot them with assault rifles.

Local officials said the incident worsened the apprehensions of evacuees  in the municipal government of Matalam, which has been trying to convince these evacuees to  return to the MNLF camp in Barangay Marbel. Marbel has been attacked three times by MILF rebels recently.

“The ambush incident made the restoration of normalcy in Barangay Marbel become complicated. It escalated the reluctance of evacuees to return there,” said Captain Tony Bulao, spokesman of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over Matalam and surrounding towns.

Bulao said witnesses have pointed to two MILF commanders, Ali Mansur and Salonga, as having led the ambush of Manial and Buisan.

Bulao said the rebels even mutilated the cadaver of Manial using machetes.

The hostilities between the feuding MILF and MNLF groups in Barangay Marbel, a government recognized “peace and development community” started before the May 13 elections.

The conflict erupted when local MNLF forces prevented MILF members from outside to attend a peace forum in Barangay Marbel with their guns and in their uniforms.

Datu Dima Ambil, the MNLF’s most senior leader in Barangay Marbel, said there was “good faith” in their request for MILF forces  to refrain from  carrying their guns and wearing their uniforms  in attending the gathering.

The MILF forces refused the request and fought the local villagers in a series of running gunbattles instead.

The spate of MILF-MNLF encounters in Barangay Marbel dislocated close to 6,000 villagers, who were forced to relocate to neutral areas for fear of getting trapped in the crossfire.

Local officials have accused the MILF of reneging on a low-level truce brokered last May 23 by North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza as a start for the provincial government’s  preparation for the gradual return of evacuees.

Barangay officials said the MILF forces, instead of repositioning away from Barangay Marbel as agreed, even established checkpoints, looted and occupied abandoned houses of MNLF members. - John Unson