2 Moro commanders forge peace covenant

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Two Moro commanders on Tuesday ended through a peace covenant a deadly rido involving their clans who figured in deadly encounters in years past.

The rido protagonists, Commanders Maten and Rambo, both belong to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), swore over the Qur’an, inside a mosque at the town proper of Maguindanao’s Datu Saudi town, to start anew as siblings in Islamic faith.

The term rido is a generic term for clan war in most southern ethnic dialects.

The two commanders agreed to have their rido settled amicably by Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi town and an influential Muslim cleric, Imam Wahid Tundok.

It took the mayor a month to negotiate their reconciliation, according to employees of the Datu Saudi municipal government.

Tundok, a foreign-trained Islamic preacher, is chief of the MILF’s 108th Base Command, whose forces are scattered in Datu Saudi and nearby towns in the second district of Maguindanao.

The families of Maten and Rambo had figured in more than a dozen deadly encounters that left fatalities on both sides and caused dislocation of villagers in affected areas.

Dimaukom told The STAR he is thankful to both commanders for agreeing to a diplomatic resolution of their rido.

He said Tundok also helped pacify Maten and Rambo, who are related to each other by blood and through intermarriages of relatives.

The two groups fought for control of strategic areas in Datu Saudi and nearby towns.