Revenge killing sends hundreds fleeing from Cotabato village

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Hundreds of Cebuano and Ilonggo settlers, including indigenous peoples or lumads, left their homes in the hinterland of Arakan, North Cotabato, after a group of enraged natives entered their village, seeking vengeance for the death of a kin.

In reports reaching the Arakan municipal government yesterday, enraged lumad from the Matigsalog tribe came all the way from Barangay Tawas in Kitao-tao, Bukidnon to seek justice for the death of one of their tribesmen, who was reportedly killed after attending a public dance in Arakan last September 30.

The act of seeking justice for a slain relative is called “pangayaw”, or “revenge”, according to Leo Reovoca, Arakan municipal information officer.

He added the relatives of the slain Matigsalog believed the killer was a resident of Barangay Sumalili in Arakan.

It was there that they reportedly hacked to death a certain Dolfo Hangumon, an Ilonggo.

Handumon, according to Reovoca, was tending his farm when a group of armed Matigsalogs killed him on the spot on that day. The victim, he stressed, had nothing to do with the killing of a Matigsalog tribesman.

“When the residents of Barangay Sumalili knew what happened to Handumon, they left the place for fear of also being killed by the natives,” said the municipal information officer.

Reovoca said that on October 2, in the hope of settling the disputes between the Matigsalogs from Barangay Tawas, Kitao-tao, and residents of Barangay Sumalili, Arakan municipal mayor Rene Rubino went to the area and started to dialogue with the concerned families.

During the talks attended by tribal elders, both parties agreed to pay the Matigsalog family a certain amount as “blood money”.

“Mayor Rubino, on his part, bought a carabao worth P15 thousand and gave the farm animal to the bereaved family of the slain Matigsalog. There was peaceful settlement of the issue after that,” said Reovoca.

On Wednesday, however, residents of Barangay Sumalili again panicked after they sighted a group of armed men entered their village, according to Arakan chief of police Chief Inspector Jose Mari Molina.

“Instead of returning to their homes on October 3, they chose to stay at the barangay center for fear another killing might take place,” said Reovoca.

Reovoca could not ascertain if the area was already safe for their constituents.

“The mayor has ordered the PNP to closely monitor the village and already sought help from the Army to ensure nothing like killing will happen again in our place,” said the information officer.