As the armed conflict in North Cotabato abated, displaced residents have started to return to check their houses even if government security forces continue clearing operations in villages allegedly forcibly occupied by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) separatists.
"Some evacuees have also started checking their properties," Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome Jr., PNP spokesman, announced at a press conference Wednesday in Camp Crame.
Bartolome said authorities were still preventing the displaced villagers from returning to their homes. He said villages that have been cleared may still have booby traps and landmines that may "inflict damage to lives and property."
The joint military and police teams claimed to have totally cleared seven of the 15 “illegally occupied” villages of the MILF in North Cotabato.
Bartolome said house-to-house clearing operations continued Wednesday.
"The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are conducting further clearing operations in the affected areas in North Cotabato to ensure that there are no more hazards that may inflict damage to lives and properties," he said. "With optimism, we foresee that soon, the residents in North Cotabato will be able to return to their homes and live normal lives again."
The police spokesman said that during house-to-house clearing operations on Tuesday, operatives discovered some booby traps in one of the cleared villages.
He said the military and the police would have to remove the booby traps, including landmines, before allowing the displaced residents to return to their homes.
Fewer atrocities
Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, acting chief of the Armed Forces Command Center, said atrocities allegedly committed by MILF members led by Commander Ameril Umbra Kato in North Cotabato have decreased since Tuesday.
Segovia reported that the rebels fired at farmers identified as Gerry and Virgilio Rambaoa and Elmo Melchor in M'lang town Tuesday. A house owned by Dindo Francisco was burned down by the rebels in Barangay Central Malamote in Matalam town.
Bartolome added that some rebels also harassed a detachment of the 1201st Provincial Police Mobile Group located along the Midsayap-Kabacan highway.
He said the rebels were repelled by policemen and Philippine Army troops.
With fewer clashes, Bartolome said the government has started "infusing" humanitarian missions with the clearing operations. He said medical teams have been sent to evacuation centers to check on the situation of the villagers.
MILF regrouping
North Cotabato Vice-Governor Emmanuel Piñol, meanwhile, said he received information that the MILF separatists that have been pulled out of the affected villages have started regrouping.
Piñol said the rebels may be planning to launch another attack in North Cotabato.
He added that the rebel group led by Umbra Kato is being reinforced by other legitimate groups of the MILF.
"It's the whole MILF that's behind this, not just Umbra Kato. They will not stop attacking North Cotabato," he said.
The vice-governor earlier said several villages in Midsayap and Pigkawayan towns have been cleared by the military and the police.
Piñol said the provincial government has passed a resolution providing financial assistance packages for the displaced residents of North Cotabato.
He said the provincial government will award P50,000 each to the families of civilian volunteers who were killed in firefights against the MILF. He also said six members of civilian volunteers organizations have been slain in the month-long atrocities in the province.