7 dead in Maguindanao del Norte clan war

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Seven members of two feuding families were killed in a spate of gunfights in Barangay Tuka Maror in Bongo Island in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte on Friday morning, October 18.

The Aragasi and Usman clans that figured in the hostilities are both identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, according to local leaders in the seaside Parang town.

Parang Mayor Cahar Ibay and Col. Christopher Panapan, directorate staff for intelligence of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately told reporters on Saturday that seven were killed in the exchanges of gunfire on Friday between the two rival groups, locked in a deadly clan war that first erupted last September 4.

Bongo Island, which has seven beachfront barangays, is about 2.4 miles off mainland Parang, one of the 12 towns in Maguindanao del Norte.

Four were killed when the two clans, reportedly squabbling for control of territories, clashed in Tuka Maror last September 4, causing the displacement of hundreds of villagers.

Ibay, who is chairperson of the multi-sector Parang Municipal Peace and Order Council, told reporters that they are trying their best to amicably settle the “rido,” meaning clan war in most Moro vernaculars, between the two groups.

Police Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of PRO-BAR, said he has directed the officials of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office and the Parang Municipal Police Station to help Ibay and his constituent-religious leaders reconcile the two feuding groups.