Cops, soldiers sent to N. Cotabato village to separate warring Moro clans
Local News • 18:04 PM Mon May 15, 2017
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
MIDSAYAP,
North Cotabato (May 15) – Police have sent peacekeepers to separate
Muslim warring clans that erupted anew in a remote village here, police said.
Supt. Bernard
Tayong, police chief of Midsayap police office, said the peacekeepers include
the Philippine Army, village watchmen and militiamen.
Involved in
clan war are the families of Namin and Sugod who have been locked in a long
standing land dispute that in the village of Lower Gland.
Tayong said at
about 3 p.m. Sunday, Brando Namin, 49, was driving his motorbike heading for
home when shot dead by two gunmen in Barangay Mudsing.
Brando Namin
belonged to Namin clan, one of the claimants of a 15-hectare farm lot in
Barangay Lower Glad.
After his
relative buried him, they retaliated and shot dead Kasan Madidis, 35 in
Barangay Lower Glad. Madidis belonged to
Sugod clan, another claimant of a farm lot in Barangay Lower Glad.
The twin
shooting was related, Tayong said.
This rido
(family feud) has claimed lives from both sides, they were armed because they
have relatives from Moro armed groups, he added.
Tayong
recalled that the 15-year-old land dispute has reached the courts but one of
the clans refused to accept court orders, thus, the family feud.
It is even
pending before the Supreme Court, Tayong said.
The police
chief said the deployment of peacekeepers is to safeguard other residents of
Barangay Lower Glan and Barangay Mudsing, mostly Muslim residents.
Mayor Romeo
Arania of Midsayap is to convene today the Muslim Elders and Religious Leaders
(MERL) to seek their help in defusing tension between the Sugod and Namin
clans. (Edwin O. Fernandez)