COTABATO CITY — Intermittent clashes between two warring clans in Midsayap, North Cotabato, has forced the evacuation of some 417 families from two villages.
Maj. Arvin John Encinas, Army’s 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said sporadic clashes in Barangays Tumbras and Kapinpilan have been going on starting April 30.
“Our security forces have secured the evacuees as local officials and elders are pacifying the quarreling families,” Encinas assured.
Encinas identified the warring families like those of Mama Macalimbol, an alleged leader of an armed lawless group, as against the Dule Dulua and Taha clans that are affiliated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front 105th Base Command.
Troopers from the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion are currently securing the displaced families temporarily sheltered at the town’s gymnasium.
On April 30, responding military and police forces briefly clashed with the group of Macalimbol in Kapinpilan and apprehended a wounded Marlon Gemalo, who was armed with an M14 rifle.
Army officials said the opposing families, locked in deep-seated political and land dispute, have both suffered casualties over the past three days of retaliatory fighting.
Workers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development are currently on the ground to attend to the displaced families, officials said. -PNA
