Basilan’s bloody MILF vs. MILF 'rido' settled amicably

COTABATO CITY— Two enemy factions in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front locked in what could be the bloodiest “rido” in Basilan reconciled on Tuesday, for residents essential to the socio-economic growth of the island province. 

Rido is a generic term for clan war in most Moro languages.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Wednesday that the feuding groups, one led by Geon Arasad and the other by Tanad Nasalon, forged a peace covenant in a symbolic rite in Barangay Buton in Hadji Muhammad Ajul town.

Nobleza said that the groups of  Arasad and Nasalon, both senior commanders in the MILF’s 114th Base Command, agreed to end their longtime rido through the intercession of Basilan Gov. Hadjiman Salliman, Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade and provincial police director Col. Carlos Madronio.

The rido between the two MILF factions that fought for control of swaths of agricultural lands in Muhammad Ajul, one of Basilan’s 11 towns, began in early 2020 and had since exacted at least 20 fatalities on both sides, according to police officials and members of the League of Mayors in the province.

Presidential Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. said that the settlement of the Nasalon-Arasad rido is one big leap towards the restoration of normalcy in Basilan, now known as the new investment hub in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“With the settlement of these bloody clan wars in Basilan, more than 20 in the past 24 months, what can we in the local business sector ask for? This runs well with our efforts to show to investors outside of Basilan that it is safe now to put up agricultural projects in the province,” Victor Moore Infante Ututalum, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry- Isabela City, said.

The leaders of the two warring MILG groups forged a peace deal in the presence of Salliman, representatives from the office of Galvez, Major Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Orion of the military’s Western Mindanao Command and Luzon, who leads all Army units in Basilan’s two cities, Lamitan and Isabela, and 11 municipalities.

Rima Hassan, a senior member of the Lamitan City Business Chamber, said she is certain of the positive impact to Basilan’s investment climate of the settlement of the Nasalon-Arasad rido.

“We ought to thank the Basilan Provincial Police Office, our provincial governor and the 101st Infantry Brigade for having worked that out,” Hassan said.