Warring Lanao Sur clans end rido
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 12:30 PM Fri Nov 20, 2020
1
By:
John M. Unson
Leaders of the Mama and Macatoon families promised to end their rido over the Qur'an last Tuesday. (From Philippine Marines)
LANAO DEL SUR --- Tension in Kapatagan and Balabagan towns is waning following the settlement this week of a bloody clan war involving two big Moro families.
Brig. Gen. Jonas Lumawag of the 1st Marine Brigade said Friday leaders of the Mama and Macatoon clans, locked in a deadly “rido,” or clan war for years, swore over the Qur’an Tuesday to end hostilities that have exacted fatalities on both sides.
Members of the feuding Mama and Macatoon clans, among them gunmen identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, are residing in the adjoining Kapatagan and Balabagan towns, both in the second district of Lanao del Sur province.
The settlement of the longtime rido between the Mama and Macatoon clans was brokered by municipal leaders in both towns, and officers of the 5th Marine Battalion and the Kapatagan and Balabagan police offices.
“We are grateful to all people who cooperated in putting a negotiated closure to the rido involving these two families,” Lumawag, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade, said.
In a statement Friday, the 5th Marine Battalion said the forging of the peace covenant by the Mama and Macatoon families was witnessed by representatives from the local government units in Kapatagan and Balabagan.
Leaders of both families promised Marine officials and their municipal leaders to reunite as neighbors and forget about their rido, sparked by land conflicts and political misunderstandings.