If there is any one exception to the rule that plantation agriculture
has functioned on Mindanao as a tool of suppression and
internal colonization it is the 1500 ha La Frutera plantation in the
Municipality of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao Province. In the 1980s,
Datu Paglas was riven by insurrection, clan conflict (rido) and
lawlessness (de la Rosa and Abreu, 2003).