Officials settle bloody Basilan "rido"
TIMRA Reports • 12:15 PM Mon Oct 10, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
The feuding clans in Tabuan-Lasa have pledged to live in peace anew. (From 101st Infantry Brigade)
COTABATO CITY - The feuding Mukahil and Muhammad clans in Tabuan-Lasa, Basilan have forged a peace pact ending years of hostilities that exacted fatalities on both sides.
The "rido," or deep-seated hostility between the two groups, had also displaced dozens of families in Barangay Babag in Tabuan-Lasa.
Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Monday leaders of both clans sned a covenant last week in Barangay Bukut-Umus in Saluping Island in Tabuan-Lasa.
Tabuan-Lasa is one of the 11 towns in Basilan that also covers the neighboring cities of Isabela and Lamitan.
Guyguyon said the Mukahil and Muhammad clans agreed to reconcile through the efforts of Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade, officials of the 4th Special Forces Battalion, Gov. Jim Salliman and the Basilan Provincial Police Office.
The mayor of Tabuan-Lasa, Moner Manisan, was also instrumental in reconciling the Mukahil and Muhammad clans, according to Guyguyon.
Gobway, the most senior Army official in Basilan, told reporters Monday the symbolic event at Barangay Bukut-Umus was partly capped off with the signing by local officials and traditional leaders of a manifesto denouncing the Abu Sayyaf terror group.
Gobway, Salliman and officials of the Basilan provincial police also affixed their signatures to the manifesto.
Gobway said a number of residents also surrendered then unlicensed firearms --- an M16 assault rifle, 10 M1 Garand rifles, two .45 caliber pistols and a .38 revolver.