Over 5,000 villagers displaced after clashes between military, BIFF

NORTH COTABATO — Some 5,000 villagers in central Mindanao got displaced by the showdown since last week between state forces and two of the three factions in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

All three groups in the BIFF uses the Islamic State flag as revolutionary banner and are imposing an extreme kind of Sharia justice system which people detest for being primitive and barbaric.

Units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division have been chasing since early this week the groups of Esmael Abdulmalik, leader of one of the three outlawed BIFF factions, and three commanders in another militant bloc in the adjoining North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces, respectively.

No fewer than 300 families were affected by the spate of clashes on Tuesday between soldiers and followers of three BIFF sub-commanders Herodin, Khadza and Lucman, at the border of Maguindanao’s Datu Unsay and Shariff Aguak towns.

The evacuees are now confined in makeshift shelters in safe areas in Shariff Aguak in the second district of Maguindanao.

The extremists Herodin, Khadza and Lucman belong to a BIFF faction under Imam Bongos. Soldiers raided farming enclaves at the boundary of Datu Unsay and Shariff Aguak after receiving reports from villagers that the three wanted men hoisted the Islamic State flag there and attempted to recruit members.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said on Saturday that it was vigilant local officials and commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who informed the 6th ID of the presence in the area of the three BIFF leaders.

Galvez said the local communities are also actively helping them monitor the movements of the third BIFF group, under Imam Karialan, who is also stoking animosity towards non-Muslims and the government.