Traditional mediation closes clan war among 7 Iranun families

MAGUINDANAO ---Leaders of seven heavily armed Iranun clans have sworn over the Qur’an end a bloody rido that exacted fatalities on all sides and maimed many many others.The term rido means vendetta clan feud in the Iranun, Maranaw and Maguindanaon dialects.The settlement of the decades-old rido between the Dagalangit, Malambut, Tomawis, Maricor and Aron families and their enemies, the Minis, Bangon, and Baroto families, was held in Buluan, the capital town of Maguindanao.All seven families are residing in the hinterland Barira and Matanog towns, both in the first district of Maguindanao.The rido settlement was brokered by Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello of the Maguindanao provincial police, the Maguindanao Task Force Reconciliation and Unification and the Regional Reconciliation and Unification Commission-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.Mangudadatu said he is thankful to the leaders of the adversarial families for conceding to have their deep-seated rido settled by third party mediators.The rido among them was triggered by political differences, land disputes and affronts on clan maratabat, or family-pride and honor.Tello said political rifts were main precursors of the conflict between the two groups, worsened by other irritants that escalated the animosity between them.Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-ARMM said Wednesday the diplomatic closure to the rido among the seven Iranun clans complements the normalization agenda of the Mindanao peace process of Malacañang. Credit has to go to the provincial government of Maguindanao, the local government units in Barira and Buldon and the community elders who helped resolve the conflict, Mijares said.Mijares said Mangudadatu have also confirmed that Iranun field commanders in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were also instrumental in the reconciliation process.The government and the MILF are bound by an interim security pact, the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities, to cooperate in maintaining law and order in conflict flashpoint areas in the south.