COTABATO CITY – A bloody rido or clannish feud broke out between Moro families in villages bordering Maguindanao and North Cotabato, leaving six residents, including women and a minor, wounded when one of warring camps fired a grenade launcher at the location of the rival clan over the weekend.
The six casualties were identified as Edres, 51; Zahra, 47; Sipaw, 11; and Mansur, 5 – all surnamed Lumambas; 20-year old Maikel Kadil; and Nasrudin Biya, 36, all residents of Barangay Bagoenged in Pagalungan, Maguindanao, according to Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) of the village.
The victims were wounded in a mortar shelling on April 11 from other side of the river, specifically from the camp of Barangay Chairman Benjamin Mantol of Talitay, Pikit, North Cotabato, the SK said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
In the online post with photos of the casualties, the SK called for prompt intervention by higher authorities to prevent the escalation of the renewed attack.
The incumbent Barangay Talitay chair is son of Sanday Buto “Butch” Mantol, a field commander of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (BIAF-MILF), who has allegedly been at odds with the former Barangay Chairman Mohammad Andoy of Bagoenged, Pagalungan, Maguindanao, the SK post said.
BARMM Executive Secretary Abdulraof Macacua said on Monday night that both warring families are field forces associated with the BIAF-MILF and that they had sent emissaries to investigate the April 11 incident.
Macacua, who is concurrent BIAF-MILF chief-of-staff, said the BARMM leadership would provide medical and relief assistance to the wounded victims and their families He clarified that the incident did not involve a mortar shelling but a grenade launcher.
Prior to the recurrence of the Mantol-Andoy rido, he said, BARMM officials had made an arrangement with Maguindanao Governor Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu for an amicable settlement of the feud. But the advent of the coronavirus (CPVID-19) pandemic requiring emergency measures has overtaken the planned settlement. (Ali G. Macabalang)