ARMM execs to clans in feud: Do it in sports, hugs, not guns

COTABATO CITY—Officials and workers of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao joined hands for a twin fete, even as one family to exude bonding helps bridge reconciliation to individuals and groups at odds, starting with Family Week and Month of Peace in September.

ARMM Officer-In-Charge Governor Mujiv Hataman said most cases of conflict in predominantly Muslim areas are rooted on rido, or family feud, which is often likened to martial law. It can be recalled that Ferdinand Marcos made public his declaration of martial law over a nationwide telecast on September 23, 1972, which, he said, he signed on September 21 that year.

Hataman said that in one village in Sumisip, Basilan dozens were killed in a family feud that started with a simple altercation on road. A man whose cloth got soiled by a tricycle passing by shot the driver dead. The same day, the relatives of the slain man retaliated and slew three more persons, the shooting man and two of his relatives, Hataman recalled.

Hataman challenged families locked in decades political or land disputes to instead fight it out in sports events that the regional government has organized in celebration of the peace month, and family week.

ARMM Assemblywoman Samira Gutoc said in the countdown to the election fever in October, political clans and families should end political feuds. “Why not consult each other through intermediaries before filing of candidacies so that violence can be ended ,” she urged would-be-candidates. Moro tradition, Gutoc said, cooler-heads emissaries to mediate parties in conflict.
The Department of Education has declared September 22-30 as Family Week, while the region also joins observance of the Month of Peace, holding various sports events participated in by employees of its agencies.

Hataman’s office and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-ARMM gathered hundreds of employees at the Shariff Kabunusan Complex, here for a family week being celebrated with the theme “Ensuring Work-Family Balance.”

Gutoc warned that vendetta killings resulting from cases of rido which are still prevalent in some parts of the region, can hamper reform programs in the new ARMM. She recalled that three persons were killed during the weeklong re-registration period on July 9-18, because of cases of pre-election period disputes. “Political violence in ARMM affects children’s futures and will always bring us back to ground zero.”Family and clan feuds, known locally as rido, are characterized by sporadic outbursts of retaliatory violence between families and kinship groups, as well as between communities, she explained.

“Without clans supporting reform in ARMM, breakthroughs in corruption cannot be overcome. We in ARMM have strong family ties. In the hierarchy of influences, the family is second to Almighty God. Thus, I firmly believe reform within the family can reform the society, as well,” Gutoc said. She said, “Political leaders must help in voter’s education by supporting the ulama in spreading sermons about values of unity and good governance. It is in the best interest of ARMM to end vote-buying now by showing the value of collaboration among governments and communities.”

“Government must invest in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as the supporting the Sultanates as a traditional institution,” she added.