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Butbut and Betwagan tribes forge peace pact

TINGLAYAN, Kalinga (Sept. 17) — Two warring tribes along the Chico river basin, the Betwagan of Sadanga, Mountain Province and the Butbut of Tinglayan, Kalinga, renewed their peace pact recently giving hope for their harmonious relationship earlier severed due to a land dispute.

This is the sixth peace pact between Betwagan and Butbut in an effort to end the four-year-old tribal conflict, which resulted in the killing of 12 tribesmen from both sides and the disruption of their economic activities.

The said conflicting tribes entered and formalized the sipat (truce) in Ngibat, Tinglayan on September 9 and 10. Observers from neighboring communities, including the neutral parties, view that the truce will finally prosper.

All of the previous five truces coupled with dialogues moderated by neutral parties failed to materialize due to the failure to reach substantial agreement mainly related to land boundary. Among those peace negotiations that failed in the past were those brokered by the provincial officials of Kalinga and Mountain Province.

In the Ngibat shenglip-negotiation, speakers from both tribes accepted and admitted, that there were errors committed in the past dialogues and truces. Elders of both sides agreed to rectify those mistakes by launching a new and respectable peace pact.

Two most contentious issues, the identification of a permanent peace pact holder of Butbut tribes and the resolution of the boundary dispute were tackled.

Permanent peace pact holder

Leaders and elders of Bugnay, among the five villages of the Butbut tribe along the border of the Betwagan territory said the new host of the peace pact should come from Bugnay because the people of Bugnay were the ones involved in the tribal conflict.

However, Betwagan leaders and elders argued that the past three sipat the Butbut tribe sent to Betwagan coming from Bugnay all failed. This means, the Betwagan elders claimed, that their tribe did not respect the sipat holders. They further said that they prefer Martin Gayudan of Ngibat to be the permanent peace pact holder of the Butbut tribe.

The leaders and elders of the other communities of Butbut later agreed after long deliberations that Gayudan would be the permanent host of the new peace pact.

Ngibat is the smallest but most economically stable of the five Butbut communities. The Butbut territory covers the barrios of Locong, Butbut Proper, Bugnay, and Buscalan.

Boundary issue

The negotiation failed to arrive to an acceptable solution to the disputed boundary. The Bugnay people wanted to set a new boundary, specifying the ridge of the mountain and all areas overlooking the road and Chico River to be included in the Bugnay territory.

But the Betwagan people want to maintain the Macli-ing boundary – a common boundary established during the transfer of the old peace pact to Macli-ing Dulag in the mid 70’s. The Betwagan elders presented their historical basis for their claims.

However, the Butbut leaders especially those from Bugnay deny that there was such a talk of boundary during the transfer of the peace pact to Macli-ing. They further claim that there was never any common boundary set in the past. A claim that belies the fact that territorial boundary is an inseparable component of a bodong (peace pact).

Despite the disagreement on the boundary, the elders and leaders from both tribes agreed to pursue the concluding rites of the shenglip and to continuously discuss the boundary issue. Both parties scheduled new round of talks and ocular inspection along the contested boundary.

The final day of the peace forging, the confirmation and acceptance (shenglip) of the peace tokens (sipat) offered by both parties was wrapped up with the “linay” on September 10.

Linay is a gift offered by the members of the host tribe that serve as binder for the agreement formulated during the conduct of shenglip. Shenglip is traditionally in cash or in kind like farm implements, metal weapons, cloth or any gift given to the participants of the shenglip dialogue.

Observers from neighboring tribes hope for the recent peace forging to allow peace to reign along the Chico river basin ending the animosities, cold war and bloody confrontations between the Butbut and Betwagan tribes. # Joseph Pangket for NORDIS

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