Officials are certain the deadly ambush in Marogong, Lanao del Sur on Saturday, December 7, is related to the involvement in a ‘rido” of the two Maranaos killed and their three relatives who were badly hurt in the incident.
Rido means clan war in most Moro vernaculars, usually triggered by political rivalries, land disputes, and affronts to family pride and honor.
Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Monday, December 9, that he had received reports from Lanao del Sur province stating that the two ambush fatalities, Solaiman Alibasa and Hadji Asrap Sandab, and their companions who were wounded in the attack have adversaries who belong to big clans in Marogong and nearby towns.
The slain Alibasa and Sandab and their relatives, Sanaoray Alibasa, Sarpia Mangayao and Ramil Bao, who were wounded in the incident, were together in a red Toyota Innova, on their way to Malabang town in Lanao del Sur, when they were attacked by men armed with assault rifles at Barangay Paigoay in Marogong.
Bao is a candidate for vice mayor in Malabang, where rival political quarters, armed with M16 and M16 assault rifles and grenade launchers, had figured some 20 bloody clashes in the past 24 months.
The wounded Bao and his two relatives who were also hurt in the incident are now confined in a hospital.
Macapaz said he has directed police officials in Lanao del Sur to also investigate the possibility that the ambush in Barangay Paigoay last Saturday could also be possibly related to Bao’s candidacy for vice mayor of the politically troubled Malabang.
