Enabling environments for violence (1)

General Santos City—For about a month now, the sitios in a remote barangay in Maitum, Sarangani province, have been mired in violent firefights, with each of the protagonists trying to outdo each other in firepower, a number of people drafted in the fiery exchanges, and even in the body count of casualties. Residents of the areas that are heavily affected by this violent conflict have been evacuating since more than a month ago for fear of their lives.

According to several sources from local media, especially from local radio stations in this city, the conflict can be traced to a long-running feud, partly caused by land disputes involving families of two commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) allegedly from fronts 104 and 105. A news report more than two years ago stated that a bloody clash between these two fronts caused the deaths of two people, one from each of the groups fighting.

But some local informants tell me that the death toll of this long-running conflict has been underreported, or not even reported by local and national media. One ustadz (religious teacher) was killed four years ago while bringing some foodstuff as part of his zakat (charity) to the residents near the mosque in one barangay near Mindupok. He was killed allegedly by the supporters of one of the clashing fronts.

The clash occurred on the border of two sitios of Barangay Mindupok, Maitum town.

Last April, the barangay chair of Mindupok, Tonesa Sarudin, was gunned down in broad daylight in front of her office at the Mindupok barangay hall. Police reported that her death was attributed to the long-running family feud involving land disputes among two groups of MILF in the area.

Another firefight ensued just two weeks ago between the same warring groups of MILF in Sitio Badol of Barangay Mindupok. The firefight caused the massive evacuation of 359 families or a total of 1,184 individuals from the area, according to the local Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Dromic report.

Since then, some videos taken by those actively involved in the clashes between the two MILF fronts have been shown to social media audiences in the city and beyond, causing a lot of fear among nearby residents of the towns of Palimbang, in Sultan Kudarat. This Sultan Kudarat municipality is also known to have episodes of violent conflicts both in the past and in the present. Its municipal boundaries are adjacent to the sitios of Barangay Mindupok. A few families in Palimbang have already started to evacuate their homes.

But what bothered those who have watched the videos are pictures of very young boys (about the age of 10 and early teens) carrying heavy, long firearms (M-16 armalite rifles). The boys exhibit a seemingly happy countenance and are seen brandishing their weapons (some are shorter than the length of the rifles), looking like they are enjoying a newfound power in holding on to these deadly weapons.

In 2016, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund facilitated the signing of a covenant between the MILF and the Government of the Philippines not to use children in armed conflicts. I facilitated one day of that conference. It was attended largely by the rank and file of the Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade, the women’s division of the MILF. What happened to that covenant?

But these are not the only bloody incidents in the town of Maitum and in nearby areas in the provinces of Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat (especially in Palimbang), and in the two Maguindanao provinces (del Sur and del Norte).

Just a few days ago, on June 17, a couple riding on a motorcycle on the highway in Barangay Tambunan 1, Talayan town in Maguindanao del Sur province, was shot to death by still unidentified suspects. The husband died on the spot while the wife was critically wounded. She died later at the hospital where she was brought.

(To be continued)

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