Rival Moro groups end clan war

COTABATO CITY — Leaders of two heavily armed Moro factions, previously engaged in violent election-related clashes from May to June, swore before the Qur’an to end their long-standing feud and restore peaceful coexistence.

The groups of Mayor Renz Tukuran of the newly-created Nabalawag town in Cotabato province and Karis Bationg, a senior member of the 105th Base Command of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, agreed to reconcile on Tuesday, July 15, through the intercession of officials of different units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, traditional Moro leaders and local executives.

Tukuran, also a member of the MILF, was the candidate of the front’s United Bangsamoro Justice Party during the May 12 mayoral race in Nabalawag, which covers several barangays that were originally under Midsayap town in Cotabato, a province under Region 12.

Their groups, armed with assault rifles and 40 millimeter grenade launchers, repeatedly clashed during the campaign period that preceded the May 12 elections, exacting no fewer than ten fatalities on each side.

Tukuran, Bationg and their followers promised before a Qur’an to end their “rido,” which means clan war in the local vernaculars, during a symbolic rite in the Army’s Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in  Maguindanao del Norte, where the 6th ID’s headquarters is located. 

6th ID's commander, Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, had told reporters that officials of the 34th and 6th Infantry Battalions and their two immediate superiors, Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu and Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog of the 601st and 602nd Infantry Brigades, respectively, cooperated in putting a closure to the deadly conflict between the two groups. 

“We are grateful to the traditional community elders and Muslim religious leaders who helped us convince these rival groups to meet in Camp Siongco where they, in context, buried their hatchets and promised to thrive together in peace again,” Bunayog, whose brigade has jurisdiction over Nabalawag and nearby towns, said.

Nabalawag is one of the eight Bangsamoro towns in Cotabato province that the 80-seat regional parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao created last year via separate enabling measures.

The conflict between the Tukuran and Bationg groups stemmed from their support for rival candidates in recent municipal, provincial, and congressional elections, as well as disputes between their followers over control of strategic areas in Nabalawag.