Warring clans clash in Lanao wedding; 3 dead, 3 wounded

LANAO DEL SUR , Philippines   â€“ Three Maranaws were killed while three others were wounded as two Moro groups armed with assault rifles accidentally met at a wedding ceremony in Piagapo town this province last Saturday and traded shots that sent some 300 guests running for their lives.

Members of the Dimaampao and Diamla clans clashed with the Tuba and Bilao families just as the Islamic cleric officiating the wedding was to seal the marriage of an ethnic Maranaw couple with a congregational prayer. 

Senior Superintendent Nickson Muksan, provincial police director, said responding policemen and local officials recovered three bodies, with an M-16 assault rifle found near each of them.  

Muksan said the Dimaampao and Diamla families, who are closely related, and their rivals, the Tuba and Bilao clans, which have blood ties, have been locked in a clan war or “rido” for a long time.

The “rido” between the two groups reportedly arose from land disputes and political rivalries that started more than a decade ago, according to local officials. 

The provincial government has long been trying to reconcile the two groups, but negotiations have repeatedly been marred by sporadic hostilities, which have left more than 20 fatalities from both sides. 

Elements of the Army’s 51st Infantry Battalion and policemen managed to disengage the two groups on Saturday, but failed to get a commitment from their leaders to allow traditional and religious leaders to amicably settle the conflict. 

Muksan said the incident was not in any way related to the Oct. 28 barangay elections in Piagapo, a politically troubled town.

“It was a chance encounter between two rival groups locked in a bloody ‘rido,’ which local officials are still trying to resolve peacefully through traditional conflict-resolution processes,” Muksan said. 

Muksan said the regional police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police, Chief Superintendent Noel de los Reyes, has ordered the deployment of more policemen in Piagapo to prevent a repeat of Saturday’s hostilities.