Vendetta killings change city into war zone

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 36

Vendetta killings change city into war zone

JOEL PALACIOS

NZPA-Reuters Marawi The cool and beautiful southern Philippine city of Marawi is as dangerous as a war zone and all but off limits to strangers. “They kill people like chickens,” said taxidriver, Henry Bartolata, as he refused to take a potential customer to Marawi. “It’s a no-man’s-land and you’d have to pay me a fortune to make me go there.” "They” are the Maranaos, Muslim tribesmen in the religious stronghold of the Lanao del Sur province. The tribesmen feel threatened by Christians, who increasingly dominate the big southern island of Mindanao. Generations of family feuds, called “rido,” and a bitter Muslim rebellion that began in the 1970 s and In which thousands died have made Marawi an isolated town of terror. There have been at least three killings in recent weeks and more than 100 abductions in the last few months.

Among those kidnapped but released unharmed in the last 18 months were two Red Cross workers from Switzerland, 10 Catholic nuns, a French priest and an American Protestant missionary. “I advise people not to go to Marawi because it is dangerous,” said Mr Alan Flores, Mayor of Iligan in the neighbouring Lanao del Norte province. Marawi’s reality belies its temperate climate and natural beauty, which is dominated by the deceptively serene Lake Lanao. Houses are built like forts, with gun towers and underground armouries. Roads are bad, garbage piles dot the city centre and basic services such as water and electricity are almost non-existent. The Government appears helpless in preventing vendetta killings and no official records have been kept on deaths caused by the feuds. “We cannot stop people shooting each other because rido is part of their culture. It can erupt anywhere, anytime,” said Colonel Carlos Pena, the

provincial military commander. ’ “There are thousands of, guns here.” Mr Emmanuel Tomada, manager of the Govern-ment-run Marawi Resort Hotel, said strangers were not safe in Lanao because ■ they had no “salsila” — ’ family backing that pro- ‘ vides protection. V 7 “A stranger is an easy ■ target because he has no-; body to avenge his kill-, ing,” Mr Tomada said. Mr Noordln Lucman, I son of the Lanao del Sur ■ governor, Tarhata Luc- ', man, said family feuds i were part of the tradi- • tional system of justice. ' Mr Lucman, who has. negotiated the safe re-' lease of at least 24 people , in seprate kidnappings, • said disputes, including; murders, were settled • along family lines. ■, ‘ “In a murder case, a; man is put in prison only ' after the families of both J , the victim and the suspect > have agreed that the mur- ‘ derer should go to jail,” 1 Mr Lucman said. ' • “Even policemen ties!-' tate in making arrests for - fear they might get their family involved in a rido.”