COTABATO CITY, Philippines --- Another ethnic Teduray chieftain was killed in an ambush on Saturday, October 17, in Maguindanao del Sur, reported by tribespeople and local leaders as the 41st fatality, from the tribe’s leadership core, in brazen attacks since 2013, all unsolved.

The spate of the seemingly unending killings of ethnic Teduray community leaders had markedly escalated despite the Bangsamoro regional government having its Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs since 2019, tasked to ensure the welfare and protection of all non-Moro indigenous communities in the autonomous region.

Tribal leaders and Teduray employees of different agencies in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and officials of police units in Maguindanao del Sur and in the Army's 6th Infantry Division separately told reporters on Monday that Joel Mactud, a known peace advocate, died instantly in an attack last Saturday by gunmen at a stretch of a highway in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur.

Mactud and his three male tribemates were riding separate motorcycles, on their way to home to the hinterland Barangay Mantao in Datu Hoffer from Upi, Maguindanao del Norte, when he was attacked by gunmen at a secluded stretch of their route, killing him instantly.

The killers of Mactud, also a member of the barangay council in Mantao, escaped using getaway motorcycles, leaving him sprawled on the road, lifeless.

Peace-advocacy groups of Tedurays in Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and in Cotabato City, which is the regional capital of BARMM, had separately urged local executives in the adjoining Datu Hoffer, Datu Unsay Ampatuan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak towns towns, the officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division work together in putting a closure to the brutal murder of Mactud.

Mactud was active in programs promoting cultural and religious solidarity among the culturally-diverse Moro and the ethnic Teduray communities in Datu Hoffer where their tribe has state-recognized ancestral domains.

Compiled records obtained from different local government units, from municipal police stations and from PRO-BAR indicate that Mactud was the 41st Teduray community leader killed by gunmen, in one attack after another since 2013, something that tribe members construe as a tacit attempt to force them out of their ancestral lands in Maguindanao del Sur, suitable for large-scale propagation of orchard, oil palm and coconut trees.

The killings of Teduray community leaders in Maguindanao del Sur heightened after talks have spread around that mining engineers and geologists had reportedly established, via clandestine studies some nine years ago, that their ancestral lands in the province have vast deposits of copper and gold, awaiting extraction.

Up to 11 Teduray community leaders in Datu Hoffer alone were reportedly killed in separate attacks in the past five years, all unsolved.

Gunmen attacked a Teduray village in South Upi, a highland town in Maguindanao del Sur about three years ago and set abandoned houses of villagers on fire after killing three of them with their assault rifles.

South Upi Vice Mayor Roldan Benito and his companion, Weng Marcos, also an ethnic Teduray, both got killed in an ambush in the municipality in August 2024.

The atrocity left Benito’s spouse, Analyn, and a minor, Joseph Mutia, wounded. All of them were together in a pick-up truck, enroute to a Teduray enclave in Barangay Pandan in South Upi, from its municipal center, Timanan, when they were attacked by men armed with assault rifles positioned along the road.

Their attackers had escaped before responding volunteer community watchmen and barangay officials could reach the scene.

The slain vice mayor was vocal about what is for him and his constituents the alarming and annoying recurring encroachment of heavily armed non-Teduray men into their tribal domains, forcing tribespeople to move out.