Heightened alert in Lanao Norte as fears of poll violence rise

Date Published: May 7, 2010

By VIOLETA M. GLORIA
MindaNews

Pantao Ragat mayor Eleanor Lantud

ILIGAN CITY.—Everyone is on heightened alert in Lanao del Norte, where a longstanding political dispute involving the warlord Dimaporo clan has come to a head in recent months.

The flashpoint is Pantao Ragat, a fifth-class town an hour and a half from here and bordering Lanao del Sur. Pantao Ragat is ruled by the husband-and-wife team of Lacson and Eleanor Lantud, whom the Dimaporos have been trying to unseat.

Pantao Ragat Mayor Eleanor Dimaporo Lantud is a first cousin of Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo and niece of Mindanao’s original warlord, the late Muhammad Ali Dimaporo.

She became mayor in 2007, replacing her husband who slid to vice mayor after serving three terms. On his mother’s side, Lacson is related to Abdullah Mangotara, a gubernatorial rival of Dimaporo in the 1990s.

Efforts to reconcile the Lantuds with the Dimaporos have proved futile, even if Eleanor is a blood relative. Their rivalry has lasted two decades, as a result of which Pantao Ragat is today the only town in Lanao not ruled by a Dimaporo ally. All 21 other towns in the province are controlled by Dimaporo’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD partymates. The Lantuds are affiliated with the Liberal Party.

Last March, an armed group identified with a rival mayoral candidate went to Pantao Ragat to meet with another group that has a standing political rido (feud) with the Lantud family.

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