COTABATO CITY (PNA) – Skirmishes erupted between two armed groups of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Pikit, North Cotabato Wednesday, August 10, sending some 50 families scampering to safer areas.

“There were evacuees but many stayed with their relatives in nearby communities,” Police Major Maxim Peralta, Pikit police chief, said Thursday, August 11.

Involved in the sporadic fighting using mortars and rocket-propelled grenades were followers of Bugdad Akas and Walid Mamasamlang, both MILF local leaders in Barangay Macabual. No casualty has been reported.

The barangay, with a population of around 4,500, now forms part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) after opting to join the fledging region during a two-part plebiscite in 2019.

Peralta said the clan war erupted after the murder of Barangay Macabual Chairman Jalandoni Matalam Akas last month.

He said the Akas family has accused Mamasamlang as the perpetrator.

Peacekeeping forces have been deployed near Barangay Macabual to prevent a conflict spillover, Peralta said, adding that emissaries from the MILF Central Committee had also been sent to defuse tension.

Peralta said while the barangay is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Pikit police, they still provide security to adjacent communities that are still part of the municipality.

“We earlier evacuated because of floods, and now due to the ‘rido’ or clan war,” said Anok Bugasan, a resident of Barangay Macabual, who fled with his family and stayed in a relative’s home in Barangay Poblacion.

Floods in low-lying communities of Pikit have displaced at least 10,000 people after the Rio Grande de Mindanao and its tributaries overflowed the past four days following heavy downpours in North Cotabato and Bukidnon.