Ridos, or clan feuds, remain an ongoing challenge in Mindanao and Sulu, though the number of such cases has dropped on Sulu through government and military mediation. Image Source: ACLED

On Thursday, members of two feuding clans stood together in Sulu and embraced.

Fourteen clan members and leaders from Barangay Gata-Gata in Panglima Estino and Barangay Kulamboh in Talipao signed a peace covenant, pledging to forgive past grievances and pursue reconciliation.

Governor Abdusakur Tan II helped broker the settlement and urged both families to recognize their ties as relatives.

The ceremony was not an isolated event. In 2025 alone, the provincial government mediated a 42-year-old rido between families from Panglima Estino and Kalingalan Caluang, and the military and a local peacebuilding group settled a generational land dispute between two families in Kalingalan Caluang, one that officials said risked escalating into violence.

The larger picture is just as notable. Sulu was long known as an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. In 2023, the task force reported that 966 alleged bandits had surrendered and 559 firearms had been recovered, though analysts at the time questioned the governor’s claim that the group had been eliminated.

This September, officials declared Sulu under Stable Internal Peace and Security, a milestone in its transition from decades of armed conflict.

The work is unfinished Sulu’s leaders

Analysts have cautioned that private armies hired by politicians still strike fear among residents. But the Tans, who have long served as Sulu’s governors, have made domestic peace their organizing priority, and the results can be seen in settlements like that signed in Talipao.

Sulu’s other best-known family has been absorbed by a different question. The Kirams, whose forebears held the Sultanate of Sulu, have spent decades divided over who is its rightful heir. A priest involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue once observed in 2013 that there is no unified authority or voice for the Sulu legacy as a consequence of this infighting.

One thing the different Kiram factions are united by is their interest in pressing territorial and financial claims to Sabah. These efforts resulted in the 2013 militant invasion of Sabah, which was only possible to man and arm through the environment of Sulu’s clan wars.

In this sense, militant activity and armed conflict in general are closely tied to Sulu’s challenges with ridos. Despite this, the various Kiram factions have not only refused to renounce efforts to claim Sabah, but have provided little effort to solving the ongoing clan conflicts on Sulu.

To date, there are few if any records of clan conflict mediation involving a member of the Kiram family, even as Sulu’s provincial government and the Philippine Army actively works to settle such violence.

“There are few if any records of clan conflict mediation involving a member of the Kiram family, even as Sulu’s provincial government and the Philippine Army actively works to settle such violence.”

Though a majority of ridos originate at the clan level, militants are involved in a large percentage of clan violence in Sulu and Mindanao. An environment of armed violence can feed and enable different, unrelated conflicts. Image Source: ACLED

Heritage matters, and nobody should dismiss the cultural meaning of the sultanate to many Tausug. But the question for Sulu today is practical. The sultanate does not function as a sovereign state. It does not keep the peace, run courts, or build roads and hospitals.

Meanwhile, the real threats to Sulu’s families are close to home: land disputes that harden into feuds, grievances passed down through generations, and armed men who profit when communities stay divided. Those are what a covenant signed in Panglima Estino addresses.

“ The sultanate does not function as a sovereign state. It does not keep the peace, run courts, or build roads and hospitals.”

The call, then, is simple. Sulu’s energy, prestige and attention belong in the barangays, not in contested lineages and territorial claims that have produced little but division. The Kiram name still carries weight. If the family used it to bring feuding clans together, as a mediator and not a claimant, it would do more for Sulu than any argument over a throne.

The handshake in Panglima Estino shows what peace looks like. Sulu should build on it.

REFERENCES

AsiaNews. (2013, April 5). PIME missionary: Church close to Muslims of Sulu, a “common line” between sultans needed. https://www.asianews.it

Garcia, T., Jr. (2026, October 22). 2 Sulu clans end longtime feud with peace covenant. Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph

KnowSulu. (2025, August 27). Rival Sulu families end year-long blood feud. https://know-sulu.ph

KnowSulu. (2026, March 16). Philippines’ Sabah claim renewed ahead of Lahad Datu anniversary. https://know-sulu.ph

Lacson, N. (2025, October 4). Decades-long rido settled. Daily Tribune. https://tribune.net.ph

Lacson, N. (2025, October 13). Sulu land dispute finally resolved. Daily Tribune. https://tribune.net.ph

Maitem, J. (2023, September 11). Governor claims Sulu has eliminated Abu Sayyaf Group but observers urge caution. BenarNews. https://www.benarnews.org

SunStar Zamboanga. (2026, September 25). Sulu declared stable in peace, security. https://www.sunstar.com.ph