Clash kills CVO in NCotabato - report

MANILA, Philippines – An army civilian volunteer was killed during an armed encounter in Aleosan town in North Cotabato province on Thursday morning, a radio report said. The report said that the still unidentified member of a civilian volunteer organization (CVO) died during a clash between alleged members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and combined forces of the local police and the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion. The government forces trooped to the area after receiving reports that the MILF soldiers had begun torching down a number of residences and ravaging a sugar cane field in the said town. Aleosan is a fourth-class municipality in North Cotabato. It has a population of 26,164 people living in 4,950 households. The development came around the same time the government gave the MILF a 24-hour deadline to move out of several towns that its forces had allegedly taken by force. During the announcement of the deadline, Interior Sec. Ronaldo Puno directed the local police in Cotabato to disarm CVOs particularly in Aleosan, who were moving openly with firearms. Puno said the order for the MILF to vacate the areas should not be construed as a declaration of war but rather a mere enforcement of the rule of law. Since July 1, some 800 members of MILF had already occupied several towns in the province, leading to the displacement of over 1,500 families, according to Puno. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, however, maintained the rebel group has not forcibly taken over any town in Cotabato. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV