MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu held an   assembly for provincial peace and ordered council in Buluan Town Wednesday, January 10 to discuss about the threats that non-Muslim Teduray tribes are experiencing for the past three weeks from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and further urging the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to help the military forces protect Tedurays from BIFFs.

 

The BIFFs want to build a camp that would supposedly protect Mount Firis, a centuries-old inherited area of Tedurays against large-scale land acquisitions but according to Mangudadatu, the main concern is the lives of the Tedurays and not the land grabbing since there are no land acquisitions done by Christians, unlike the allegations .

 

Mangudadatu said there had been roadside bombs and booby traps along the farm trails laid by BIFF gunmen in which civilians are most vulnerable of and had already cost two soldiers and a policeman. According to Lt. Col. Gerry Besana of the Army-led anti-terror Joint Task Force Central, more weaponry experts will be positioned in the area to collect improvised explosive devices (IEDs) scattered by the BIFF to minimize casualties.

 

In a statement, Mangudadatu said that since the ongoing peace process between MILF and the government benefits Mindanao’s Muslim, Christian and Lumad communities and also because of the Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities that the two parties have crafted in July 1997, there is still a reason for the both sides to join forces in protecting the Tedurays who are subject to deadly attacks from BIFF.