3 civilians killed in crossfire
DAVAO CITY -- A nine-year-old girl and her 80-year-old grandmother died in the crossfire between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government troops in Barangay Takepan, Aleosan town in North Cotabato.
The body of another civilian killed in the firefight was not recovered immediately due to the presence of the MILF in the area. The rebels pulled out from the barangay only Tuesday noon.
In a telephone interview, MILF military spokesman Eid Kabalu said they pity the innocents caught in the crossfire.
"We sympathize with them. We pity them," said Kabalu.
He stressed though that they are not to blame for it, adding that the MILF rebels were not the ones initiating the attacks.
Kabalu said their men were merely defending themselves from the military offensives.
The armed conflict in North Cotabato stemmed from the 24-hour ultimatum issued by the government for the MILF rebels to vacate the areas in the province, which they forcibly occupied.
About 130,000 residents were displaced due to the ensuing firefight that started Sunday.
A missionary Oblate priest said trauma, anger, and anguish are just few of the many emotions painted on the faces of thousands of war victims in North Cotabato.
"You can't blame them from being angry. They were thrown out from their lands. Their relatives were killed, so what can you expect," said Fr. Eduardo Vasquez, director of the Inter-Religious Dialogue of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Pikit town.
Vasquez and members of the parish-led Disaster Response Team have been actively involved in relief distribution since Monday.
"Food, clothing, and other relief items had come from different sources, from the local government units, church organizations, and religious schools and other institutions of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Notre Dame System in North Cotabato," he said.
The Oblate missionary, who spent more than four years in the hinterlands of North Upi in Shariff Kabungsuan before his assignment in Pikit, said he pitied those evacuees "who have lost everything because of the wars."
"They fled on foot, taking only themselves or the clothes they wore at that time. They all want to be spared from the fighting," he said.
Marlon Dantes, one of the evacuees who is an out-of-school youth from Barangay Silik, also in Pikit, has suffered a mental disorder after a number of mortar shells dropped just few meters away from his house on Sunday night.
Dantes, together with his family, joined thousands of villagers who fled from their homes at the height of war, said Vasquez.
"I heard him say words like, intelligence and 'traydor,' I don't know what he meant by that," the priest said as he urged experts on trauma healing to help Dantes and others who experienced stress and shock because of the wars.
As of Wednesday, some evacuees were assisted in going back to their homes that were reclaimed by the government forces.
Sun.Star Network Online - 3 civilians killed in crossfire