January 4, 2002, Philippine Daily Inquirer, AFP, MILF rebels clash anew; thousands flee, by Edwin O. Fernandez and Ferdinand O. Zuasola, PDI Mindanao Bureau 

COTABATO CITY-Thousands of civilians fled their villages after Moro rebels stormed Barangay Nabundas in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on New Year's Day.

Dr. Tahir Sulaik, provincial health chief, said at least 700 Muslim families have fled to the town center of Mamasapano and were being attended to by health workers.

It was the first major skirmish between government forces and the military in Maguindanao since the government and the MILF started observing a cessation of hostilities in November.

According to the military, at least two rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were killed during the air and ground assaults.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesperson of the Army's 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said the civilians fled when the rebels, led by Commanders Odin and Maki Dampao and Sammy Gambal, attacked.

"The military has to use its machinery to drive them away because of their number and firepower," Ando told the INQUIRER.

He said the guerrillas numbered about 100.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesperson, said the incident was triggered by a family feud.

He said the assault could not be considered a violation of the ceasefire agreement that the rebel front signed with the government.

"It was not sanctioned by the MILF leadership . . . we religiously abide by the ceasefire agreement with the government," Kabalu said.

He said that based on an MILF investigation, civilian volunteers in the village killed a member of a family in Barangay Nabundas several days ago.

The victim was incidentally an MILF fighter and that some of his relatives, who are also with the MILF, went out to avenge his death.

In another violent incident, two Mandaya tribesmen, one of them a tribal leader of Cateel, Davao Oriental, were abducted and later killed by suspected communist guerrillas.

The killings happened as the tribal folk in the province intensified their "pangayao" or tribal war against the communist rebels.

The bullet-ridden bodies of Prosperador Abarca, 54, a Mandaya leader and chair of Barangay Mainit, and his relative, Jonnie Bagyuhanon, 27, were found on Wednesday in Barangay Abihod.

Police said Abarca and Bagyuhanon were abducted by members of the communist New People's Army from Sitio Magubahong, also in Abihod, on Dec. 28 last year.

The NPA has yet to issue a statement about the incident.

Mandaya tribesmen decided to take up arms against the communists several months ago after a series of harassments against them.

The provincial government has extended its "all-out" support to the "pangayao."

"The tribal war is aimed at flushing out the communist guerrillas from lumad communities here," Alejandro Aquino, provincial legal officer, said.

Supt. Catalino Cuy, police provincial director, said Gov. Maria Elena Palma Gil was "keen on the idea of arming the Mandayas (to fight the NPA) but she wanted them to be recruited first as militia members" to prevent any legal complication.

Since the declaration of the tribal war, Mandaya tribesmen claimed to have killed at least 10 NPA rebels.

A human rights group, Karapatan-Mindanao, said the victims were poor farmers.