Members of the troubled Moro clan resolving conflicts among them

COTABATO CITY - Members of the Sinsuat clan here and in Maguindanao del Norte, made estranged by hostile politics, are optimistic they can reunite still despite Tuesday’s gunfight that marred their reconciliation dialogue here that left a policeman dead.

The Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Cotabato City Police Office are keen on prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law the 10 individuals implicated in the atrocity, four of them arrested at the scene, six more captured one after another in pursuit operations on the same day.

A clan elder, Datu Bimbo Sinsuat, told reporters here on Friday that the incident has not dampened their zeal to continue exhausting means of putting closure to their misunderstandings that were triggered by political differences during the 2022 local elections.

“We will do our best to resolve our differences,” said Sinsuat, a former member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Maguindanao that got divided as Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte via a referendum last year.

The Sinsuats rule the vote-rich Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte, about 40 kilometers south of this city. The municipality, originally named Dinaig, was created on August 18, 1947 via an executive order by then-President Manuel Roxas. It has around 60,000 voters, according to barangay officials.  

Clan leaders, among them Datu Bimbo, his younger brother, Datu Ronnie, who was former Maguindanao del Norte congressional representative, and their nephew, Datu Lester, who is incumbent mayor of Datu Odin Sinsuat, were in a meeting at Barangay Rosary Heights 6 here last Tuesday when gunshots reverberated through the surroundings, disrupting their supposed talk on putting closure to the conflicts that have fragmented them.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and Cotabato City’s police director, Col. Querubin Manalang, Jr. had separately told reporters that the incident involved a group led by another Sinsuat clan member.

One from the group shot dead a policeman, Staff Sgt. Zahraman Mustapha Diocolono, who was positioned near the gate of the compound along Rosales Street in Barangay Rosary Heights 6 here where the Sinsuats converged in a bid to iron out their misunderstandings, according to the two police officials.

Diocolano, who belonged to the Provincial Mobile Force Company under the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office, was Lester’s security escort, a privilege he enjoys as elected chief executive of Datu Odin Sinsuat town.

The deep-seated misunderstandings among the Sinsuats started during last year’s local elections with the candidacy for the mayoral post of their hometown of Datu Lester and his uncle, Datu Jamael, who lost in the two-cornered race.

The Sinsuats only had one, unopposed candidate for mayor of Datu Odin Sinsuat, during municipal elections in decades prior.

“We are confident we can address all of these challenges confronting us through diplomacy,” Datu Bimbo said.