Google map of Midsayap town, North Cotabato.
MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato – Hundreds of residents in two remote villages here have fled to safer grounds after two warring Moro families shot it out due to “rido” (family feud) Monday.
Lt. Colonel Benito Rotia, Midsayap town police chief, said the warring families are residents of Barangay Damatulan who are either members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) or have relatives in the organization.
“There is an existing peace process so we are carefully studying the situation and bring this matter before the government and MILF peace panels,” Rotia told reporters in the vernacular.
He said they are closely monitoring the situation, adding that police and soldiers have been deployed to prevent the warring families from engaging in a gun battle.
He withheld the names of families locked in the clan war pending an ongoing investigation.
Personnel from the town’s social welfare office are now attending to some 200 displaced families who sought refuge in Barangay Kadigasan.
Kadigasan village is adjacent to Damatulan where the firefight broke out. (PNA)
