Police, Army push BIFF out of North Cotabato village

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Intense pressure from government forces have forced some 20 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) rebels to abandon a village in Kabacan town in North Cotabato that they had earlier occupied.

 

The Kabacan Philippine National Police and soldiers of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion carried out the operations that forced the BIFF fighters out of Barangays Cuyapon and Lower Paatan in Kabacan town.

 

According to Supt. Leo Ajero, chief of the Kabacan PNP, they had started pursuing the BIFF force, led by a certain Commander Fox, around 8 a.m. Monday. The operations ended around 2 p.m., also on that day.

 

A militiaman identified as Ruben Fizardo was wounded on the foot during the fighting. He was rushed to the Kabacan Medical Specialist hospital/clinic in Poblacion, Kabacan.

 

The gunbattle displaced some 200 families from Barangays Cuyapon and Lower Paatan, according to PNP reports. Most of them sought refuge in their relatives’ houses in nearby barangays. Others are temporarily housed in some government installations in the barangay.

 

The fighting began 6 a.m. Monday, when Commander Fox, together with 20 of his men, attacked the Kabacan area, which is mostly inhabited by Cebuano and Ilonggo settlers,.

 

Fox claims that his clan owns the lands, even as settlers held titles for the lots.

 

The contested lands are agricultural lands with rice, corn, and other agricultural crops planted on them.

 

 “Commander Fox wanted to drive away the villagers from their lands so, more often than not, he would harass them,” Col. Benjamin Hao, commander of the 7th IB, said.

 

The pursuit operations, however, forced the armed bandits to abandon the area.

 

The attack launched by Commander Fox, according to Ajero, was not, in any way, connected to the signing of framework agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

 

 “This is purely a land conflict or land grabbing issue,” stressed Ajero. — DVM, GMA News