This book deals with rido in Mindanao (southern Philippines). Rido is a type of conflict characterized by sporadic outbursts of retaliatory violence between families and kinship groups as well as between communities. It can occur in areas where government or a central authority is weak and in areas where there is a perceived lack of justice and security.
Rido has wider implications for conflict in Mindanao primarily because it tends to interact in unfortunate ways with separatist conflict and other forms of armed violence. Many armed confrontations in the past involving insurgent groups and the military were triggered by a local rido. The studies in this volume investigated the dynamics of ridowith the intention of helping design strategic interventions to address such conflicts.
Rido is only one aspect in the complex web violence in Mindanao which includes separatism, communist insurgency, and banditry. - Wilfredo Magno Torres III, Editor
The clan is so important among the Bangsamoro in Mindanao that members respectively protect family welfare and honor. In some areas of the southern Philippines where state institutions have a limited capacity to provide security and justice, locals rely mainly on mutual self-help which can sometimes manifest itself violently as rido or clan conflict. One way to grasp the clan structure of Bangsamoro communities is to read this book. People join the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination as clans agreeing to fight together. When they decide to disengage from the fighting, they leave as a clan too. When the Moro liberation fronts, whether MNLF or MILF, decided to negotiate and attempt to come to terms with the government, the clans sustained the collective effort. As the GPH-MILF Comprehensive Compact is signed soon and a new Bangsamoro government is put in place, the clans will again play a crucial role in sustaining the peace and in helping prevent and resolve rido. - B. R. Rodil
Published in 2014. Winner, National Book Awards for Social Sciences category in 2014.