MILF wants amicable settlement with Mangudadatus

The secessionist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is seeking an amicable settlement with the Mangudadatu clan in Buluan, Maguindanao to iron out a long-standing conflict around Buluan Lake. The MILF said it will form a special group to dialogue with the Mangudadatu clan headed by Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto" Mangudadatu and former Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu. “It is to the interest of everyone in the area and the Moros in general that internal conflicts shall be handled amicably on the basis of justice, brotherhood, and sharing ... Besides, this is the teaching of Islam that in nor circumstances, except for murder, that blood of a Muslim shall be shed for whatever reason," the MILF said. According to the MILF, the decision to form a special group was reached during a special meeting of the MILF Central Committee on Saturday. The group’s composition, however, has yet to be finalized. The formation of the group came at the heels of bloody clashes between armed followers of the Mangudadatus and armed civilians, some of whom are identified with the MILF. The clashes occurred in at least two of the villages around the lake. Several persons were killed during the encounters, even as the MILF claimed the Mangudadatus have some 1,000 firearms including 20 M-60 machineguns and several bazookas. The MILF said at least 100 persons had been killed since the start of the conflict in the late 1980s during the time of Datu Pua Mangudadatu, the father of the incumbent Maguindanao governor. Many of those killed were landowners around the lake, it said. Gov. Mangudadatu won in the May 10, 2010 elections, a year after his wife and two sisters were killed in a massacre allegedly masterminded by the Ampatuans, their rival clan. A total of 57 people were killed in the Nov. 23, 2009 carnage in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao. - KBK, GMA News