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Being a peace pact holder

From the eyes of a Cordillera woman

MALIBCONG, Abra (June 3) — Nanang (mother) Irene Baawa, 64 years old, wakes up early in the morning. She boils kape or native coffee in her dalikan (native stove). The aroma of the coffee fills the air, helping set the mood of the day.

The native coffee in the upland Bangilo district of this town is among its notable products. Doing away with sugar, creamer, makes you appreciate its native taste. Addictive coffee it is.

Buanao is one of the three barangays of Bangilo. It has at least 70 households with at a population of at least 300 people. It is a six-hour jeepney ride, through rugged mountain trails from Bangued. Indigenous socio-political systems are well and alive in Buanao. Among its existing systems is the bodong or peace pact.

“We have in fact at least 27 bodong by Buanao with nearby tribes,” claims Nanang Irene.

Woman peace pact holder

Nanang Irene’s husband is Lakay (elder) Emeterio Baawa, 73 years old. Husband and wife were blessed with three boys and a daughter. The children are all married, including the daughter who is married to a foreigner in the Middle East.

Lakay Baawa is hearing impaired, explained Nanang Irene. That makes the husband shy in joining discussions with their visitors like us whom the community hosted for the duration of the Cordillera Day celebration in April.

Even the role of Lakay Baawa as a peace pact holder is sometimes being played by Nanang Irene because of her husband’s limitation. This is where she felt that the peace pact is not only focused to the men, who traditionally serve as peace pact holders, but to the family, especially the spouses. They need to take on such a role together to maintain and strengthen their bodong.

Bodong with Kalinga tribe

Nanang Irene claims that their bodong with the Butbut tribe of Kalinga started sometime after the World War II. It was, however, in 1957 that Lakay Baawa’s father performed the galigad, a process of transferring the bodong to him (Lakay Baawa). Galigad is traditionally performed when the peace pact holder dies or unable to perform his functions as such.

Since the 1957 galigad, the Butbut-Buanao bodong has never been severed. To strengthen their bodong and to keep it active, Buanao villagers celebrated a dolnat (literally to warm up) to renew their bodong, explained Nanang Irene.

She remembers that in February 1998, another galigad took place, this time with the Butbut tribe.

Malindo Daligdig, the counterpart of Lakay Baawa from the Butbut tribe, transferred the peace pact to a family member. The event happened in Anonang, Tabuk, Kalinga where some of the Butbut tribe members settled.

“It shows that the bodong covers every member of the tribe from their ancestral homeland and outside, wherever they are,” explained Nanang Irene.

Strengthening the bodong

During our second night at Nanang Irene’s home, we witnessed how strong their bodong is with the Butbut tribe. Delegates from the Butbut tribe joined us at their home. And to everyone’s amazement, the Butbut delegates included Francis Macliing, son of Kalinga hero Dulag Macliing.

Once your kabodong is in your territory, Nanang Irene explains, they are accorded protection. If anything happens to them, that is the responsibility of the host community.

One evening, Nanang Irene went to the grounds where the Cordillera Day celebration was being held. She recognized some Butbut delegates whom she met in the 1998 galigad in Anonang. She invited them to her home, to which the Butbut delegates accepted as a sign of respect. She offered the humble comforts of their home, the food and the good coffee, to their kabodong and us.

Even before we departed from the area, Lakay Banag Sinumlag of the Butbut tribe based in Tabuk appeared and bade goodbye to their kabodong. This experience was very educational for this writer, which deepened my understanding on the dynamics of the bodong system. I realized that in Buanao, this system is persistent and more dominant than government’s local governance system.

I learned too the role of a woman in this system, especially the wife of a peace pact holder where she is an actual (or de facto) peace pact holder. I remember Nanang Irene’s role and her native coffee. And a community where it survived the many challenges, including threats, by the state. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS

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