COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The warring clans of Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar and acting Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Mujiv Hataman will sign a peace covenant today to end a 12-year bloody political rivalry and restore peace and economic stability in the province.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Deles will witness the signing of the peace pact at the Basilan State College.
Hataman said a group of Muslim clerics from the Basilan Ulama Supreme Council, who brokered the signing of the covenant, and Christian religious communities will also attend the signing of a peace pact by representatives of the Hataman and Akbar families.
Elders of non-aligned Yakan and Tausog families in Basilan also brokered the reconciliation of the Hatamans and Akbars.
“The Hataman and Akbar families are setting an example they wish other feuding clans in the autonomous region will emulate,” Hataman said.
Hataman, a former ally of the late congressman Wahab Akbar, severed his ties with the former in the mid-90s and joined the party-list group Anak Mindanao.
The animosity between the two clans worsened following the 2007 bombing outside the Batasang Pambansa Complex in 2007 that killed Akbar and four others. Hataman was implicated in the incident.
As part of their settlement, the Hatamans and the Akbars agreed not to pit candidates against members of either clan in next year’s local elections.
Hataman said it will be an insult to his leadership, being the highest official of the ARMM and resident of Basilan if I could not make a difference in the lives of my fellow Basileños.”
“The reconciliation with the Akbar family is a very welcome development not only because I’m the ARMM regional governor but because we are mandated by law to preserve peace and development in the region,” Hataman said in a statement.
Akbar for her part, called on Basilan residents to stay united and sacrifice personal interest to promote peace and the general welfare of the people.
Akbar, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, said their family realized they were wrong in accusing Hataman as one of the masterminds in the Batasan bombing that killed her husband.
The Department of Justice earlier cleared Hataman of any involvement in the attack for lack of evidence.
Akbar said she is willing to forget all pains and sacrifices suffered by her and the family of her husband for the greater interest of Basilan.
Records at the ARMM regional police office in Camp S.K. Pendatun in Maguindanao showed there are more than 200 existing bloody clan wars in the autonomous region.