COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 18, 2013) – Hundreds of villagers, who fled the fighting between security and rebels forces, have returned to their homes as clashes subsided in the restive province of Maguindanao in southern Philippines.
The Mindanao Human Rights Action Center said it has deployed Thursday a team in the village of Bagan – scene of recent clashes – in Guindulungan town to see the status of the civilians.
It said 191 people displaced by the violence between soldiers and Moro rebels returned to the village of Kateman and that 100 more families are now settled in neighboring areas.
Town officials on Thursday also distributed rice, noodles, sardines and dried fish to the families affected by the war.
“We are closely monitoring the situation in the area,” the human rights center told the Mindanao Examiner.
Maguindanao is one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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