By Philippine News Agency
COTABATO CITY – The military in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao on Friday brought two warring Muslim families to a “peace table” inside its battalion headquarters to end a long-running conflict.
FEUD SETTLEMENT -- Mando Tabungalan (left) and Datu Tamano Mamalapat shake hands after their “rido” (family feud) settlement by the Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Maguindanao on Friday, June 7, 2019. (Photo courtesy of 1st MIB / VIA PNA / MANILA BULLETIN)
Lt. Col. James Fernando, commander of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion (1MIB), said it took a while to convince the Muslim families locked in a “rido” (clan war) to settle their dispute peacefully.
Fernando said he was thankful that their persistence paid off when they managed to convince the warring families of Datu Mando Tabungalan and Datu Tamano Mamalapat to sit down at the Army headquarters in Barangay Salbu, Datu Saudi Ampatuan.
The families engaged in several armed confrontations at the boundary of Barangay Kitango and Barangay Kitapok.