EVACUEES. Some of the displaced 300 families temporarily housed at the municipal gymnasium of Pigcawayan, North Cotabato, following a clash between two groups of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Wednesday (April 24, 2024). The evacuees are residents of the town's Barangay Banucagon. (Photo from Pigcawayan LGU)
COTABATO CITY – At least 300 families in a remote village of Pigcawayan, North Cotabato, have fled to safer grounds after two Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) armed groups clashed on Wednesday afternoon, leaving one dead and several others injured.
Pigcawayan Mayor Juanito Agustin said the displaced families, consisting of some 1,500 persons in Brgy. Banucagon, are now housed inside the municipal gymnasium and attended to by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development (MSWD) office.
Agustin said the MSWD office had prepared food packs for the displaced families, while some had started to return home in the daytime but would return to the town center at night.
He said his office has also coordinated with the MILF leadership after villagers identified two MILF groups locked in “rido” (family feud) were involved in the skirmishes.
As of Thursday, there have been no reports of gunfire in the village, and government forces have been deployed to act as peacekeepers.
Emissaries of the MILF are also currently in the village to appease the warring families, Agustin said. (PNA)
