Military on alert for brewing conflict between 2 MILF factions

MAGUINDANAO - The military is scrambling to contain a possible escalation of hostilities between two groups of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

Capt. Alvin Macatangay, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 603rd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over Pagalungan and nearby towns in North Cotabato, said the tension between the two MILF factions heightened after last week’s murder of a guerilla named Usman Pandapatan.

Pandapatan, who belonged to the MILF’s 108th Base Command, was reportedly shot dead by members of a rival group in Barangay Damalasak, a secluded district in Pagalungan.

Interior farming enclaves in Pagalungan have been repeatedly rocked by violent clashes in recent years between rival MILF groups locked in political and land disputes.

Macatangay said there are talks circulating among local folks purporting that Pandapatan was killed by a group led by a certain Kagi Dagiman, who is also a member of the MILF.

Macatangay said the two groups can only be pacified by the MILF leadership, with the help of the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities.

The joint ceasefire committee is comprised of representatives from the MILF, the police and the military.

Local officials and traditional Moro leaders have also been trying to pacify the two groups, according to Macatangay.