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Cordillera tribes still seek the bodong for economic reasons

BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 16) — Tribal communities rarely go to court for conflict resolution, a Kalinga peace pact holder told NORDIS in a recent interview, reacting to a 1999 general pagta (agreements) initiated by some professionals from Kalinga.

According to Markus Bangit, a Malbong tribe leader and peace pact holder for Dangtalan, people either go to courts or ask the help of bodong holders to settle a conflict in the binodngan areas. But more often than not, he said, poor peasants resort to the bodong (peace pact) for relief.

“Iti ili, nu inareglon ti bodong, nawaswasen ti amin a basol,” (Back in the village, when the bodong settles the conflict, everything is forgiven) Bangit clarifies. “Ken nu nagdesisyonda nga ikamang iti korte, idiayen a madesisyonan. Nu kunada nga ikamangda iti bodong, awanen ti mapan iti korte,” (Once people decide to go to court, they do not seek the bodong or vice versa) he added.

On the opinion that the whole tribe shoulders the costs demanded from the offender, Bangit said that as practiced in Kalinga, the cost of settling tribal conflict is borne by the perpetrator. In cases where the offender could not afford such, he is given a chance to find ways to put up the amount and his or her clan, not the whole tribe, will help him raise funds to come up with the complete amount. Bangit clarified that a bigger portion of the cost of settlement should come from the offending individual.

Flawed justice system

Bangit encouraged the role of peacemakers in modern times.

“Ti bales ket ugali idi primitibo a panawen. Ngem itatta nga adda ti korte, tiliwen koma ti pulis dagiti nagbasol. Anya ngay koma ti akem dagiti platoon-sized police forces nu haan nga ti agpatalinaed ti kapya ken talna?” (Vengeance was practiced in the primitive times. Now that there are courts, police forces should apprehend the offender. What is the responsibility of platoon-sized police forces if not to maintain harmony and peace?), Bangit asks.

He is quite uncomfortable with the agreement that the bodong holders must stand as witnesses against the offender. “Kasano ka nga ag-witness ngay no awan ti nakitam?” (How could one be a witness when he did not see anything?)

It is acceptable in the tribal communities for the bodong holders to conduct an independent investigation and decide on the basis of that investigation, Bangit clarifies.Courts, however, can dismiss his testimony as hearsay, even if it was based on his tribe’s investigation.

Aside from the limitations of the Philippine justice system, Bangit sees the danger in standing as a witness against his tribesmen because, he says, it invites clan war within the tribe. Clan war is more dangerous and divisive Bangit says.

Uniting tribal members

The bilateral bodong in the cities are fine, Bangit says, but the rules of the pagta, particularly those in the Lubuagan-Guinaang bodong which were adopted from the general pagta in 1999, are not easy to achieve. He said it requires the approval of all tribal members who are encouraged to sign the pagta. He said, the role of the peace pact holder to unify all the tribal members is quite crucial. It is also their responsibility to have the bodong recognized by the tribes in the ili or else, it will be futile.

Bangit also clarified that if the problem happened in the ili and the bodong has resolved the conflict there, a bodong in the city becomes academic.

He said, the bodong in the ili is decisive in the settlement of tribal war. The agreement of the immigrant tribes in the city will prevent the spillage of tribal war outside the province in cases where conflicts have not been resolved.

Justice at one’s doorstep

Bangit said that people seek the help of the bodong because they find it hard to obtain justice elsewhere.

“Iti agdama, bodong pay laeng ti epektibo a mangmintina iti relasyon iti nagbabaetan dagiti tribu. Umuna, awan ti kabaelan dagiti mannalon para iti kaso,” (At present, bodong is the most effective means to maintain the relationships among tribes. Foremost, peasants have no means to finance the case), Bangit pointed out. He said that the filing fees in court and the acceptance fees that lawyers impose on the litigants are prohibitive that poor peasants prefer the tribal leaders.

A convenor of the Metro-Baguio Tribal Elders’/Leaders’ Council (MBTEC), Bangit also heads the Elders’ Desk of the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA). MBTEC is composed of 60 elders and leaders representing 22 tribes in Abra, Kalinga and Mt. Province. Like the Kalinga Bodong Convenors’ Group, MBTEC advocates that Metro-Baguio be spared from tribal wars. It is presently pursuing its anti-tribal war campaign.

“Saanen a nainkalintegan ti tribal war itatta a tiyempo. Ti bodong ket masapol a pagbalinen a progresibo tapno agserbi iti interes ti amin a binodngan,” (Tribal wars are not justified these days. Bodong should be transformed into progressive agreements for it to serve the people in the tribal communities) Bangit said.

He said people should appreciate the initiatives of both the Lubuagan and the Guinaang tribes to prevent further bloodshed in the cities brought about by the death of a tribal youth leader in Kalinga. But this city-based initiative cannot decide on the conflict that started in Kalinga, Bangit said.

Multilateral agreements

Bangit encourages tribe members who have migrated to the cities to forge further unity not only through bilateral peace-pacts but also through multilateral peace agreements to face their common issues. In the cities where there are no territories to speak of, Bangit says, there are common issues that people could talk about.

“Addanto ti panawen a maawanto ti pateg ti bodong,” (Time will come when the bodong will lose its importance) People have to understand that when a thing is no longer useful, it is forgotten, Bangit said. However, he quips, that a higher level of social consciousness and a tighter unity may be forged among several tribes.

He urged tribal people to forge multilateral agreements and fight against common enemies of the poor peasants in the provinces. Poor peasants are victims of tribal conflict in the provinces and of fake land reform laws, the encroachment of big mining corporations and human rights violations. Bangit said a multilateral bodong might come up with a common unity to solve these problems and advance the interests of the people.

Bangit recalls two multilateral agreements in the past, which brought about peace in many provinces in the Cordillera. One such agreement is the holding of the bodong conferences that led to the Kalinga-Bontoc Peace Pact Holders’ Association that fought against the Chico dam in the 80s. In Abra, multi-lateral agreements among tribes successfully aborted Cellophil Resources Corporation’s logging concessions. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS

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