Ceasefire for warring Maguindanao clans signed

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines   â€“ Local officials and leaders of the feuding Iranon clans signed on Sunday a “rido ceasefire” to prevent the escalation of family feuds in four Maguindanao towns as efforts to establish a new Bangsamoro political entity is underway.

“Rido” is a Muslim term for clan war.

The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are aiming to create before 2016 the MILF-led Bangsamoro political entity, to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, through the Basic Bangsamoro Law.

The “rido ceasefire” is meant to prevent clan wars among families in Parang, Buldon, Barira, and Matanog towns, and in nearby Balabagan in Lanao del Sur.

The signing highlighted the traditional Muslim thanksgiving banquet hosted by local officials, led by Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, to celebrate the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB).

At least 2,000 ethnic Iranon community leaders as well as representatives from the police, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT), and MILF officials participated in the signing at the municipal gymnasium in Parang.

MILF first vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar and Malaysian Gen. Abdul Samad Bin Yaakob, IMT’s head of mission, urged the public to support the Mindanao peace process in order to hasten the restoration of normalcy and economic growth in conflict-stricken areas in the south.

Mangudadatu said he was grateful to the local government units in the four Iranon towns, the MILF, the Army’s 603rd Brigade, and the Iranon Development Council, for initiating rido ceasefire.

Parang Mayor Ibrahim Ibay, himself an ethnic Iranon, said Maguindanao’s hinterland Iranon towns account for the most number of clan wars in the province.