December 20, 2024 | 2:30pm
COTABATO CITY — Officials settled on Tuesday, December 17, three different deadly clan wars in Tabuan-Lasa town in Basilan, ending longtime hostilities that have exacted fatalities on six protagonist camps.
The leaders of the feuding groups signed a common peace covenant together brokered by officials of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade, the 4th Special Forces Battalion, Tabuan-Lasa Mayor Moner Manisan and Basilan Gov. Hadjiman Salliman during a reconciliation rite in Barangay Bukut-umus in Tabuan-Lasa.
The signatories to the compact printed on a tarpaulin, among them municipal leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front, also pledged then to thrive in peace again, in the presence of barangay officials and Muslim religious leaders in Tabuan-Lasa.
They sealed the agreement with a handshake and tight hugs after they each promised, before Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the 101st Infantry Brigade, Manisan and Salliman, to end their deadly squabbles for control of the territorial seas in Tabuan-Lasa where their followers catch blue and yellowfin tunas that they sell to retailers in markets in different towns in Basilan.
In a message during the event, Salliman, chairman of the multi-sector Basilan Provincial Peace and Order Council, said he is thankful to Luzon and officials of the Basilan Provincial Police Office, under Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, director of the Bangsamoro regional police, for cooperating in convincing the leaders of the feuding clans to have their conflicts settled amicably.
The event was capped off with the surrender by the clans that have reconciled of assault rifles, grenade launchers and pistols in support of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Management Program of the Office of Presidential Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., which is being implemented in Basilan by Mr. Salliman and officials of Army units in the province.
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