Two persons were killed and another was wounded when
unidentified gunmen barged into a coastal village here dawn Thursday, strafed
several houses and torched some in what appeared to be an offshoot of a clan
war involving Maguindanawon families, officials said.
Quoting witnesses, Senior Supt. Rex Anongos, Cotabato City
While Anongos said they have not established the motive yet
as investigations are ongoing, Sema believed it could be because of rido (clan
war), possibly an offshoot of last Monday’s ambush in the municipality of Datu
Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao wherein five people were killed, all belonging to
the Ayunan clan.
“I was not the target nor my workers in the fish farm,”
assured Sema. “Maybe some residents of the village who have been suspected to
have ties with their nemesis [are the targets],” added the chairman of the Moro
National Liberation Front (MNLF).
But he admitted that the rido has somehow affected him since
the warring clans are his close relatives. Sema said he was trying his best to
mediate and help settle the family feud to save the lives of civilians, women
and children from both sides.
Anongos identified the fatalities in the 5 a.m. attack as
Abubakar Guiamalel and Bapa Guia, both residents of Purok Lupapakan, Barangay
Kalanganan 2, Cotabato
City
Ponining Bingbing, a woman in her 70s, was seen leaving the
village barefoot and carrying some important belongings. She relayed how she
and her family were awakened by a series of gun fires and the eventual burning
of several houses.
“We were surprised by the gun fires. We took cover and ran
for our lives to different directions as the gunmen continued firing,” she
said.
Aside from Bingbing, several villagers also managed to leave
the village and hauled their belongings by boats to seek refuge in houses of
relatives nearby as long as tension remained in Purok Lupapakan.
Police and members of the Army’s Special Forces responded
but the attackers were already gone.
A huge motorboat was left behind, abandoned by the attackers
while fleeing on foot to elude the responding government troopers.
The PNP’s Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) recovered at
least 75 empty shells from M-16 Armalite rifle, Garand rifle, AK-47 and M-14
rifle, and rifle grenades.
Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. has directed the
police, barangay officials and Special Forces to help deploy peacekeepers in
the adjoining villages of Kalanganan 1 and 2 and nearby villages to prevent
warring families from seeing each other while efforts are underway to settle
the conflict.
Last October 26, five persons were killed – including a
four-year-old boy, an old woman and her daughters – when they were ambushed in
Datu Odin Sinsuat town while travelling from General Santos to this city.
Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, after the Datu Odin Sinsuat
ambush, has asked the Maguindanao Task Force on Reconciliation and Unification
(MTFRU) to intervene and help ease the tension or settle the clan conflict.
“I am so saddened to learn children, women and innocent
civilians were dragged to this senseless killings,” he said.
Rido, according to the book “Rido: Clan Feuding and Conflict
Management in Mindanao” published by The Asia Foundation and the USAID, “refers
to a state of recurring hostilities between families and kinship groups
characterized by a series of retaliatory acts of violence carried out to avenge
a perceived affront or injustice.”
Prof. Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro
Studies , author of the book’s chapter on “Dynamics and
Management of Rido in the Province
of Maguindanao
“In most cases, conflict becomes rido when it causes the
death of a family member from either party. The retaliation and
counter-retaliation results in a cycle of vengeance,” he wrote.
http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2015/10/29/2-killed-in-cotabato-dawn-attacka-blamed-on-rido/
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