Two more enemy Yakan clans in Basilan reconcile

COTABATO CITY --- Two feuding Yakan clans reconciled on Tuesday in a symbolic rite in Ungkaya Pukan town in Basilan, ending a six-year “rido” that had exacted more than 10 fatalities on both sides.

Rido is a generic term for clan war in most Moro and other southern vernacular.

Basilan Gov. Hadjiman Salliman and Bangsamoro police director Brig. Allan Nobleza separately told reporters on Wednesday that the clans of Amil Palluh and Jhomie Majaran willingly forged a peace covenant brokered by the Army’s 101^st Infantry Brigade, the Basilan Provincial Police Office, and the multi-sector Provincial Peace and Order Council in a symbolic rite in Bohe Suyak in Ungkaya Pukan municipality.

Nobleza said Army Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon of the 101st Infantry Brigade, members of the PPOC under Salliman’s chairmanship, the local government unit of Ungkaya Pukan, and the Ungkaya Municipal Police Station together convinced the leaders of both clans to reconcile and thrive in peace again in Bohe Suyak, where they figured in deadly clashes in the past six years.

“To all who cooperated in settling their longtime rido, we in PRO-BAR are thankful,” Nobleza said.

The hostilities between the Palluh and Majaran clans that started in 2018 had caused the displacement of hundreds of marginalized Yakan villagers in Bohe Suyak and nearby barangays in Ungkaya Pukan.

“We are happy that they have finally agreed to reconcile for good. What they did was, in essence, and context, like burying their hatchets for good and smoking the proverbial peace pipe together to end the deadly conflict between them,” Luzon told reporters in this city via Facebook Messenger.  

Nobleza said the League of Mayors in Basilan, the PPOC, units of PRO-BAR and the Army had settled 42 clan wars in the island province since 2016. (John Felix Unson)