Shariff Aguak LGU settles feud of 2 commanders  

COTABATO CITY - Commanders of two feudal groups in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front forged a peace covenant Tuesday to end a longtime “rido” that exacted fatalities on both sides.

Rido is a common term for clan war in many southern vernaculars.

The leaders of the two rival groups, Emran Dawaling and Hadji Abubakar Midsabala, reconciled through the intercession of Mayor Marop Ampatuan of Shariff Aguak town in the second district of Maguindanao province. 

Both MILF leaders are constituents of Ampatuan, chairperson of the multi-sector Shariff Aguak municipal peace and order council.

Two top MILF leaders, the Islamic theologians Zacaria Guma and Wahid Tundok, chiefs of the MILF’s 105^th and 118 Base Commands, respectively, are signatories to the peace pact putting closure to the bloody rido between the clans of Dawaling and Midsabala. 

The two MILF commanders lost more than a dozen followers each in gunfights in recent years that caused the displacement of innocent villagers in areas where both sides figured in encounters using assault rifles. 

“I’m glad and so thankful that they agreed to reconcile,” Ampatuan said on Tuesday morning.

Ampatuan said he is as grateful to the Maguindanao provincial police, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and to units of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division under Major Gen. Juvymax Uy for having supported his effort of settling amicably the Dawaling- Midsabala clan war.