DOJ forms multiagency group to resolve ‘ridos’

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is forming a technical working group (TWG) with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (Opapru) to recommend how to resolve or prevent clan wars called “rido” at the community level.

A memorandum of agreement was signed between the DOJ and Opapru at the DOJ headquarters in Manila, to address one of the perennial issues in the Bangsamoro region.

In a press briefing, Opapru Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento noted that rido tends to be a generational feud that “even if you are able to incarcerate a person from one clan, it won’t stop until the whole clan is wiped out.”

“I have witnessed firsthand the importance of community-based restorative mechanisms in resolving long-standing cases of rido or family feuds that fuel armed violence, displace families and hinder development,” he added.

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Revised mechanism

What the TWG wants to achieve is to establish a mechanism that would factor in locally-facilitated peace settlements into the criminal justice processes “without diminishing prosecutorial discretion or judicial independence,” Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said.

The TWG will also include representatives from the interior department, police, the Ministry of Public Order and Safety of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, local government officials and other stakeholders. It is expected to submit its recommendations within 45 days, or by September. —WITH A REPORT FROM FRANCESCA AGBAYANI, INQUIRER INTERN