Law enforcers – notably including the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) – must sanction all cases of rido (family or clannish feuds) among all Muslim communities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and elsewhere in the country.

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Thousands of Rido cases, which usually stemmed from feuds over properties, political disputes or rivalries, land conflicts, love triangles, and the like, are also criminal acts and have been taking place between and among Moro tribes in many places in the country, notably in BARMM communities.

Rido cases have also been leaving people killed or wounded and displacing innocent families for many decades I can remember. Unfortunately, law enforcers and actors in the security sector have always appeared adamant or inattentive to violent conflicts involving Moro families. In most cases, they avoided addressing conflicts among Moro people.

Government forces always reasoned out that rido is embedded in the socio-political cultures of Moro tribes, and is something exclusive that they would avoid being involved in.

This government security sector’s attitude toward rido cases is wrong because such violent conflicts at the worst level take lives, hurt and displace others, and in the least instance a source of public disturbance.

I joined the media practice 47 years ago to drum up public awareness about government discrimination against Moro people, one aspect of which is the security sector being adamant in sanctioning rido. And I feel this discrepancy is still pervasive nowadays.

The discrimination can be observed in the way cops are handcuffing two or more non-Moro people fighting in non-Moro communities. Police would invoke the crime of public disturbance.

The BARMM government through its interim legislature – the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) – should enact a law mandating or prodding law enforcement agencies or the security forces inside and outside the autonomous region to treat rido cases as a form of crime and arrest people involved for prosecution and judgment.

The passage of such a law will be a test case in the obvious police tolerance of rido in Moro communities. It may also end the suspicion that such tolerance is part of an age-old conspiracy to keep the Moro community in trouble and poor. (AGM)