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Gov’t extends aid to Maguindanao displaced families

By Edwin Fernandez

September 13, 2018, 3:42 pm

<p><strong>AID.</strong> Soldiers unload relief goods during distribution of aid to displaced families in Barangay Tukanalugong, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao, following a string of clashes between two armed groups the past several days. <em>(Photo by the Army’s 1st Mechanized Battalion).</em></p>

AID. Soldiers unload relief goods during distribution of aid to displaced families in Barangay Tukanalugong, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao, following a string of clashes between two armed groups the past several days. (Photo by the Army’s 1st Mechanized Battalion).

COTABATO CITY – The local government of Datu Abdullah Sangki in Maguindanao, backed by the Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion, has extended emergency aid to some 150 families displaced by armed hostilities in the past four days.

Datu Abdullah Sangki Mayor Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu said Wednesday the families from the interior barangay of Tukanalugong have fled to safer grounds due to harassment by armed men against a multi-national banana plantation operating in the area.

The displaced families, consisting of about 900 individuals, were given food packs and rice, courtesy of the local government.

Most of the displaced families were workers of Delinanas banana plantation who fled to safety upon sightings of the heavily armed men.

“Later, the gunmen engaged in a firefight,” the mayor said, adding that intermittent clashes between the two groups have been ongoing since Monday.

Members of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion accompanied the local disaster office in distributing assistance to the internally-displaced persons.

Mangudadatu earlier presided over the meeting of the municipal peace and order council, during which, local village officials were directed to immediately alert the local police and military authorities about the presence of armed men in their communities.

She assured the affected residents that the government is on top of the situation and that the police and military authorities are regularly assessing the situation.

Initial reports said the warring groups, whose leaders are yet to be identified, are fighting over parcels of land near the banana plantation. (PNA)

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