2 killed, 3 wounded in family feuds in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 1, 2008) – Two persons were killed and three others wounded in separate gun attacks Monday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said.

Two brothers, one of them a policeman, attacked and killed a man inside his own house in the village of Kasanyangan. Two other house occupants were wounded in the attack. Both families are locked in a bitter feud.The assailants escaped after the attack.

One person was also shot and killed and his brother wounded in an attack, blamed by the police to family feud, in the village of Salaan. The suspects in the attacks also escaped.

Clan war or locally known as “rido”, is common in many parts of the southern Philippines. The U.S. Agency for International Development and think tank Asia Foundation have said more than 3,000 people have been killed over the past seven decades in family feuds in the southern Philippines.

Rido can involve disputes among family members or among two or more rival families, pitting neighbors or different ethnic groups against each other. The disputes center on issues of land, money, marriage or political power and involve revenge killing.

The violence increases with each act of retaliation, broadening to include those not directly involved in the dispute, including women and children, according to the Asia Foundation, adding, some feuds lasted for decades. Summary executions are also common in Zamboanga and hundreds had been killed over the past years. (Mindanao Examiner)