Catamco asks AFP, PNP to secure civilians from clan war in Matalam
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 21:45 PM Sun May 3, 2020
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By:
Esther Roque with reports from Edwin Fernandez
North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco listens to Moro evacuees as an elderly woman awaits for her turn to received relief aid from the governor. (LGU photos)
MATALAM, North Cotabato – Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco on Sunday took time off from her activities to maintain the province coronavirus free and visited this town to prevent the escalation of armed hostilities involving two Moro clans.
After receiving briefings from the security sector, Catamco has asked officials of the 602nd Infantry Brigade and the Cotabato police provincial office to ensure the safety of civilians from the villages of Kidama and Marbel, both in Matalam and facilitate their immediate return.
Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong, 602nd Army brigade chief, assured Catamco and the people of Matalam that additional troops have been sent to ensure that conflict will not spillover to other areas.
“Once normalcy is restored, the Army will facilitate the return of affected civilians,” Capulong told Gov. Catamco. Colonel Henry Villar, Cotabato police director, said police peacekeepers have been deployed near the encounter site of the Ambel and Naga clans.
“The fighting area is about three kilometers away from civilian communities,” he assured the governor. Families of Datu Dima Ambel, chair of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Cotabato and Naig Naga of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been at war following the ambush slay of Councilor Norodin Ambel on Wednesday in Barangay Marbel.
Councilor Ambel of Barangay Kilada, who died on the spot, is the son of MNLF-Cotabato chair Dima Ambel.
With him was Barangay Kilada chairperson Rowena de Leon who was critically injured. The Ambel-Naga family feud dates back to the 90s.
As a result of the fighting, some 910 families near the areas of the Ambels and the Nagas fled to safer grounds. They fled for fear of getting in the middle of the conflict despite the threat of coronavirus pandemic.
Dayang Naga, a 69-year old resident of Marbel, said she has been staying in the evacuation center for three days now together with her two grandchildren.
“Despite COVID-19 that forced us to stay home, we have no choice but to flee,” she said in the vernacular.
Governor Catamco described the situation as added burden to civilians who were asked to stay home but have to go.
She emphatized with the affected families. "The government asked you to stay home because of COVID-19 but you need to flee for fear we might get hit by bullets. We now have two enemies, bullets and virus,” Catamco said.
She reminded all affected families in the evacuation sites of the importance of wearing facemasks, physical distancing and eating vegetable and healthy food to boost their immune system. She is expected to sit down with the elders of warring families for diplomatic solution to the problem.