Villager Dead, 2 Hurt in Cotabato Land Dispute Clash

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A male villager was killed while two others were wounded as two groups, armed with combat rifles, clashed in Barangay Estado in Matalam town in Cotabato on Wednesday, July 29, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate to safe areas. Officials of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office and the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion, securing the municipality separately, told reporters on Thursday that the two groups are squabbling for control of strategic patches of arable lands in interior areas in Barangay Estado. Both groups, one of which is identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, had figured in deadly gunfights in the area repeatedly in recent months, exacting more than 10 fatalities on each side. Local executives in Matalam said the fatality in Wednesday’s incident in Barangay Estado, Elmer Viajante, an Ilonggo farmer, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the crossfire. Municipal and barangay officials said Viajante was on his way home from his farm when armed men, speaking to each other in Maguindanaon vernacular, opened fire at Ilonggo gunmen behind his location. Barangay officials said two other residents of Barangay Estado were wounded in the gunfight, which triggered panic among villagers, forcing them to relocate to neutral grounds. The wounded villagers were immediately brought to a hospital by barangay officials for treatment. Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, said they have deployed peacekeeping troops in Barangay Estado, from the 40th Infantry Battalion, to prevent a repeat of the incident. The displaced villagers, many of them children and elderly folks, are now in makeshift evacuation sites in Barangay San Roque in Matalam and in nearby areas, being watched over by relief workers from their government unit, according to Bunayog.