Political feud in Maguindanao settled

COTABATO CITY – Efforts by Muslim provincial and regional leaders to intervene and avert what could have been a harsh electoral contest in Matanog, Maguindanao proved fruitful when two staunch rivals agreed to peacefully resolve their differences.

“This is another breakthrough in our continuing pacification and unification drive,” Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu yesterday said.

The governor was referring to the successful forging of reconciliation between reelectionist Matanog Mayor Mohammad “Kits” Guro, on one hand, and political rivals Cahar Ibay and incumbent Vice Mayor Nasser Imam, on the other.

Matanog is notoriously known in Maguindanao as the site of bloody family wars or rido in the past.

Mangudadatu noted that it was fortunate that the protagonists were all under the ruling Liberal Party (LP) which gave Mangudadatu and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman, both party stalwarts in Mindanao, the needed leverage to broke the conciliation meet- ing in Davao City last Thursday.

Ibay, a former Maguindanao provincial board member, withdrew his mayoral candidacy and instead vowed to support Guro’s bid for second term for mayor.

At the same gathering, Guro and Imam also formalized their earlier covenant for a peaceful to years of intense political rivalry. Guron and Imam, a former three-term mayor, reportedly developed enmity after the latter fielded a close relative against the former in the 2013 elections.

Mangudadatu, chair of the Maguindanao Task Force on Reconciliation and Unification (MTFRU), had partially sealed the Guro-Imam political feud at a meeting also in Davao City last June 8, a few weeks after armed escorts of the two protagonists nearly engaged in a shootout at a crowded conference in Buluan, Maguindanao.

During Thursday’s settlement rites, witnesses said Guro, Imam and Ibay, as well the their followers, shook each others’ hands and even embraced each other as a local cleric led a solemn prayer for lasting peace in Matanog.

Parang town Mayor Ibrahim Ibay, elder brother of the former board member, and Vice Governor Lester Sinsuat, chair of the Alliance of Lumads, Iranuns and Maguindanaons (ALIM), also helped broker the covenant and attended Thursday’s event.