Hundreds evacuate as firearms seized from feuding Moro factions

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March 7, 2026 | 6:53pm

COTABATO CITY — Policemen and soldiers seized 13 high-powered firearms on Friday, March 6, from two rival Moro groups that have repeatedly clashed along the border of two towns in Cotabato province, leaving casualties on both sides and forcing hundreds of villagers to evacuate to avoid getting trapped in the crossfire.

The cache, composed of M16, M14 and M1 Garand rifles, a K3 machine gun and an 81-millimeter mortar, was found in different spots along the boundary of Barangay Lomopog in Midsayap, Cotabato, and the municipality of Nabalawag in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area. Authorities said the weapons were left behind by the feuding gunmen after brief encounters with joint Army and police teams dispatched to the area to arrest them.

Hundreds of families from the conflict-stricken barangays of Olandang, Kadigasan and Kudarangan in Nabalawag are now staying at the Dabpil Sampulna Elementary School, far from the skirmish sites that forced them to flee their homes. Many brought farm animals and other belongings as they relocated.

Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, said on Saturday that soldiers from the 33rd Infantry Battalion and personnel from the police stations in Midsayap and Nabalawag drove the two groups away from the areas where they traded shots in clashes that began last Monday.

“That joint Army-police peacekeeping operation was coordinated with the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” Bunayog said.

The clashes killed a graduating female high school student, Nadia Ebad Haron, who was hit in the head by a stray bullet while she and relatives in Barangay Damatulan in Nabalawag were preparing to evacuate on Wednesday, authorities said.

Five members of a poor Moro family, Yahya, Irene, Rowena, Ramadin and Haladin Asim, were also wounded when the groups clashed on Tuesday night near their house in Barangay Duaminanga in Datu Piang, not far from Barangay Damatulan.

Traditional Moro leaders displaced by the hostilities said the two groups, led by commanders tagged in heinous crimes, have been locked in a long-running feud that was aggravated by their support for rival candidates in local races during the May 12, 2025 elections.

They are also reportedly fighting for control of agricultural areas along the Nabalawag-Midsayap border, where they allegedly extort money and rice from residents on a regular basis, according to barangay officials.