Tribal chieftain in Maguindanao del Sur beheaded

COTABATO CITY — A Teduray chieftain, known for his strong stance against armed groups seizing ancestral lands, was found headless by his followers on Thursday, February 20.

Renato Promboy, 65, was first reported missing by his relatives and followers three days before his headless cadaver was found, with his hands tied, near a water reservoir in Barangay Tuayan, Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur.

Promboy led a community of non-Moro Tedurays in Datu Hoffer, where tribal lands have been increasingly taken over by armed groups in recent years, displacing hundreds of helpless native inhabitants.

Records from the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, and local government units in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte show that 84 Teduray tribal leaders, outspoken in their opposition to non-Teduray groups intruding on their lands, have been killed in ongoing attacks since 2018.

Promboy was killed just two months after another Teduray chieftain, Baywan Angan, was shot dead by non-Teduray attackers while heading to his farm in Barangay Mantao, a remote tribal enclave, in an attack that remains unsolved.