13 killed as MILF rival groups clashed over land ownership in Maguindanao Sur

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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 31 October)  – At least 13 people were killed after fierce clashes erupted between two armed groups in Barangay Kilangan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur on Wednesday,  the military said.

Lt. Col. Roden Orbon, 6^th Infantry Division spokesperson, said Thursday the encounter erupted between members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) 105^th and 129^th base commands.

Eleven persons were killed and three others were wounded from the 105^th base command while the other group suffered two dead and two injured, he said in a report by Oblates-owned DXMS Radyo Bida Cotabato City.

Orbon said the displaced civilians have slowly returned to their residences.

The conflict has subsided after troops have been deployed to conduct clearing operations and to maintain peace and order in the area, he said.

Major Zukarnain Kunakon, Pagalungan municipal police chief, initially reported that only 11 people were killed, and not 19 as sketchy reports said, while seven others were injured.

“We are taking all means now  to resolve the conflict and assist the displaced residents,” Kunakon said.

The firefight, which began around 1 p.m. and lasted for several hours, involved the group of Engr. Datu Alonto Sultan of the MILF 105^th base command and the group of Commanders Ikot Dandua and Bawsi of the 129^th base command.

The clash stemmed from a long-standing land dispute in the area. 

Sultan claimed to have legal ownership of the land, supported by a land title. However, the group of Commanders Ikot Dandua and Bawsi, also insisted that the land belongs to them, inherited from their ancestors, a report by DXMY Cotabato said.

According to a relative of  Sultan who refused to be identified for security reason, military accompanied their group yesterday morning to survey the land they claimed to own. 

However, he said they were surrounded and  attacked by the opposing group after the military left.

The source admitted that the military had warned their group not to stay long in the area due to the presence of their rival group nearby.

Captain Michael Eugenio, 90^th Infantry Battalion spokesperson, called on the MILF and the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities to resolve the dispute.

In the report “Conflict’s Long Game: A Decade of Violence in the Bangsamoro,” published in August 2022 by International Alert Philippines, it  tallied hundreds of land-related conflicts that displaced thousands of Bangsamoro residents over the 2011-2020 period, disrupting livelihoods and stalling the education of children and youth.

The report said that “land disputes turn violent when weapons are used. They unravel a string of violence when relatives become involved in long-standing clan feuds and revenge killings.” 

Among other reasons, disputes break out due to unclear or contested borders between properties, conflicting claims, lack of proof of ownership, informal transfers such as sales and mortgages, and the formalization of ownership, such as through surveys or titles, of lands that had been informally or communally held for a long time, it said.

The fragmented land administration system also causes conflict as different agencies issue land tenure instruments that may cover the same properties, the report added. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)