COTABATO CITY: Members of the “little Congress” in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao appealed yesterday to security authorities to help in settling clan wars to ensure a peaceful election in the area next year.
There are more than 200 existing clan wars, called “rido” in the local vernacular, in the ARMM, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur in Central Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.
Samira Tomawis, representative of the women sector to ARMM’s 27-seat Regional Legislative Assembly, said peace dialogues among feuding clans in the autonomous region must be initiated before next month’s filing of certificates of candidacy for local, provincial and regional elections.
“Why not consult each other through intermediaries before the filing of candidacies so that violence can be ended?” said Tomawis, who hails from Lanao del Sur.
Lanao del Sur accounts for most cases of bloody, decades-old clan wars in the autonomous region.
Tomawis said the feuding political leaders in the region can best show their support to President Aquino’s reform agenda for ARMM by putting an end to their intense rivalries.
She said there is a centuries-old Moro “adat” or tradition where feuding clans allow the intervention of mediators to resolve conflicts.
Speaker Rasol Mitmug Jr, the ARMM’s third highest official, said the RLA, as a collegial law-making body, is ready to help in the reconciliation of local feuding political clans.
Assemblyman Romeo Sema, who belongs to the Moro National Liberation Front, said any support from the local clerics and Islamic religious groups will hasten such effort.
Tomawis said clan wars will make difficult for the region’s caretakers, led by acting Gov Mujiv Hataman, the introduction of reforms in the area’s political landscape, often associated with electoral fraud, killings, and private armies tapped by warlords to perpetuate power.
Tomawis said in Lanao del Sur alone, three people were killed during the July 9-18 general registration of voters, which was supposedly a non-partisan activity.
“Political violence in ARMM will affect the future of children,” she said.
Clan wars in the autonomous region are characterised by sporadic outbursts of attacks and counter-attacks by armed clans.
Most clan wars are either rooted to land disputes, or have stemmed from perceived transgressions of family pride and honour.
The Philippine star
