Mamasapano evacuees reluctant to return home

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – A majority of the 1,324 families displaced in the firefight between Special Action Force olice officers and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25 are reluctant to return to their homes, according to the Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

HEART said most of the displaced residents prefer to stay with their relatives in nearby barangays or in makeshift evacuation sites for fear that the hostilities would escalate. The group distributed relief supplies to the displaced villagers on Wednesday.

HEART said the evacuees are from Barangays Tukanalipao and Mangapang, the site of the encounter.

At least two civilians were killed and another was wounded when they were caught in the crossfire during the encounter.

The fatalities were identified as Badrudin Nanganlan, 21, and Sarah Sampulna Panangulon, 5.

Saat Manadal, 16, suffered a gunshot wound in the chest and is fighting for his life at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center.

The firefight, which lasted for 10 hours, killed 44 SAF men.

Rashid Ladiasan, chairman of the MILF’s coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, said the encounter also left 14 MILF rebels dead.