Violence centered in Sumisip, an agricultural town in the province of Basilan. The area is famous for its rubber plantations. Attacks organized by farmer who has joined the Islamic rebels to protest against the controversial land reform.

Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The death toll from clashes between the Philippine military and Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas that began yesterday in the town of Sumisip, (Basilan, Mindanao) now stands at 16 people. Among the 12 killed were soldiers. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, head of the troops in Western Mindanao, said fighting is still in progress in the area of Sumisip. In efforts to defeat the militants the army has intervened with helicopter gunships.

The violence broke out in one of the largest rubber plantations in the region, the scene of other attacks by Islamists which cost 5 dead and 22 wounded, mostly farmers. According to the army Wyms Wakil, the former head of the cooperative that manages the plantation now one of the local leaders of Abu Sayyaf, is orchestrating the assaults on soldiers and workers.

Sumisip was one of the first cities to apply the agricultural land reform that provides for the subdivision of large plantations among the small farmers, but to date no criteria for the allocation of land has been set. This has encouraged every village in the area to claim their share, resulting in clashes between rival factions. The province of Basilan is predominantly Muslim, but most of the villages and settlements inside the plantations are Christian. Local sources explain that the local Muslims who were previously excluded from the land are using the name of Abu Sayyaf and threats against Christians to draw attention to the problem of land and push the government to clarify their reform in favor of the peasants and not landowners.

 

 

• philippines
• mindanao
• muslim
• abu
• sayaf
• land
• reform
• attacks
• army