Maguindanao feuding clans end 20 years of conflict

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Four feuding ethnic Iranun clans reconciled on Tuesday, ending deep-seated disputes that resulted in fatalities on each side in bloody showdowns in about 20 years.

The combined Tomawis and Simban families and their adversary, the Dagalangit and Malambut clans, agreed to put closure to their “rido” (clan war), sparked by land conflicts and political differences that challenged the “maratabat” of both sides, after a tedious process of negotiation.

Maratabat means clan pride and honor in the Iranun and Maranaw dialects.

Leaders of the two groups on Tuesday swore over the Qur’an in Buluan town, capital of Maguindanao, to live in peace again and help local officials in their hometowns, Buldon and Barira, restore normalcy in communities affected by their violent gunfights.

“The enemy clans decided to end their hostility to each other and start all over again as one big clan through the initiative of the Maguindanao peace and order council,” said Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, director of the provincial police.

It took the inter-agency council, led by Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and officials of the Reconciliation and Unification Task Force under his office four years to broker an end to the rido involving the four families.

The rido settlement on Tuesday was the provincial government’s 46th since Mangudadatu, now in his third and last term as provincial governor, was first elected to office in 2010.

Major Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, which has jurisdiction over Maguindanao’s 36 towns, said he was elated with the latest reconciliation feat of the Mangudadatu administration.

Dela Vega said he is thankful to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for helping address the rido among the Tomawis-Simban and the Dagalangit-Malambut clans.

The government and the MILF are bound to cooperate in addressing peace and security issues in conflict flashpoint areas by an interim security pact, the Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities, that both sides crafted in July 1997.