Rising violence greets new Bangsamoro gov’t
COTABATO CITY—A resurgence of violence greeted the start of the regular government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Council for Climate and Conflict Action Asia (CCAA), a nonprofit organization monitoring peace and security issues in the region, said the recent surge of violence was driven by clan feud, political rivalries, land conflict, shadow economy, and Islamic extremists.
The wave of armed violence, including deadly clashes, ambushes, and shooting incidents, mostly happened in the mainland Mindanao provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.
Maureen Lacuesta, CCAA senior program manager, said that violence notably spiked in the weeks leading up to the inaugural session on Oct. 30 of the Bangsamoro Parliament following the historic regional elections last Sept. 14.
Increasing deaths
As such, the regular BARMM government, under the leadership of Member of Parliament Abdulraof Macacua as the first elected chief minister, is hounded by a fragile security and political environment early in its incumbency.
In a statement issued Tuesday, CCAA noted an increase in fatalities from armed violence in October, despite a relatively lower number of incidents.
Following the outbreak of election-related violence in Cotabato City on Sept. 14 that left three people dead and 15 others wounded, October recorded 47 fatalities from 79 violent incidents, a 38-percent increase in deaths compared with September, according to CCAA’s critical events monitoring system.
Lacuesta said the violence was driven largely by “horizontal conflicts,” particularly personal and clan feuds, as well as competition over illicit economic activities, including illegal drug trade and cigarette smuggling.
CCAA recorded a decline in violent incidents following the Sept. 14 elections. The second half of September saw 26 incidents, 19 of them gun-related, compared with 48 incidents in the first half of the month.
Lacuesta said much of the violence stemmed from recurring clan rivalries and conflicts that escalated after Election Day, developing into “rido” (clan and family feuds). In October, CCAA recorded 16 incidents involving personal grudges and clan feuding, mostly concentrated in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Sur.
Clan wars were reported in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, and in Butig and Malabang towns and Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.
Attacks against local government officials also marked the period, despite the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
A village chief in Marogong, Lanao del Sur, was killed by his own nephew whose father reportedly intended to challenge the incumbent and run for the barangay’s top post in the 2028 elections.
Security threats from violent extremists also continue to hound the region. On Oct. 15, a suspected Dawlah Islamiyah subleader and three other alleged gunrunners were killed during the service of an arrest warrant that escalated into a clash at Barangay Tapayan in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao del Norte, CCCA data showed.
Region-wide threat
Lacuesta also said attacks on members of the Teduray non-Moro indigenous tribe continue, noting that these are linked to efforts to protect their ancestral lands.
On Oct. 17, one of their leaders, who was also a barangay councilor in Datu Hoffer Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, was shot dead. A day later, two other Teduray were shot in Datu Unsay town, also in the province.
Lacuesta noted that illicit economic activities, such as gunrunning and cigarette smuggling, were increasingly emerging as a source of deadly violence across the region.
If left unaddressed, CCAA warned that violence triggered by long-standing clan and political rivalries and illicit economic activities could intensify in the run-up to the 2028 national and local elections.
CCAA said addressing violence would be among the major challenges confronting the regular Bangsamoro Parliament.
Another think tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent global organization working to prevent wars and shape policies to build a more peaceful world, also sounded the alarm on the lingering violence prevailing in the Bangsamoro region, which is a product of the peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
While the 2014 peace accord ended decades of conflict between the Philippine government and the MILF, violence still flares as clan feuds, political rivalries and criminal rackets rattle the region, ICG said in a Sept. 3 report titled “Policing the Bangsamoro: Peace in the Southern Philippines.
“Security continues to be a concern in the autonomous region of Bangsamoro in the southern Philippines. Law enforcement reforms and better coordination between the military and the police—as well as stronger gun control and better access to courts—could help stem the violence,” ICG said. —WITH A REPORT FROM BONG S. SARMIENTO
