NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — Some 5,000 villagers in central Mindanao got displaced by the showdown since last week between state forces and two of the three factions in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
All three groups in the BIFF uses the Islamic State flag as revolutionary banner and are imposing an extreme kind of Sharia justice system which people detest for being primitive and barbaric.
Units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division have been chasing since early this week the groups of Esmael Abdulmalik, leader of one of the three outlawed BIFF factions, and three commanders in another militant bloc in the adjoining North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces, respectively.
No fewer than 300 families were affected by the spate of clashes on Tuesday between soldiers and followers of three BIFF sub-commanders Herodin, Khadza and Lucman, at the border of Maguindanao’s Datu Unsay and Shariff Aguak towns.
The evacuees are now confined in makeshift shelters in safe areas in Shariff Aguak in the second district of Maguindanao.
The extremists Herodin, Khadza and Lucman belong to a BIFF faction under Imam Bongos.
Soldiers raided farming enclaves at the boundary of Datu Unsay and Shariff Aguak after receiving reports from villagers that the three wanted men hoisted the Islamic State flag there and attempted to recruit members.
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said on Saturday that it was vigilant local officials and commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who informed the 6th ID of the presence in the area of the three BIFF leaders.
Galvez said the local communities are also actively helping them monitor the movements of the third BIFF group, under Imam Karialan, who is also stoking animosity towards non-Muslims and the government.
Personnel the 602nd Brigade, a component unit of 6th ID, have also been running after the most radical BIFF faction in Carmen town in North Cotabato for more than a week now.
The group, led by Abdulmalik, most known as Abu Toraife, was driven out of their enclaves in Maguindanao’s neighboring Salibo and Shariff Saidona towns last month by forces of the MILF.
The MILF launched its offensive against Abdulmalik and his men for hoisting the IS flag on strategic spots in government-acknowledged guerilla enclaves in the two towns.
Both towns are covered by the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the MILF and the government that enjoins both sides to cooperate in addressing security concerns in potential conflict flashpoint areas.
More than 600 hundred families were displaced by the incursions of Abdulmalik and his men in Barangay Tonganon in Carmen, which prompted the military to launch air and ground offensives to neutralize them.
Local officials in North Cotabato said the MILF is now helping soldiers locate Abdulmalik and his men in Carmen.
The encounters between them and soldiers have forced villagers to evacuate to neutral grounds.
Government agencies attending to the needs of evacuees said 230 more families or some 2,000 individuals, relocated to barangays far from the scene of the latest clashes in Carmen on Friday.