2 Kalinga tribes junk ‘bodong’

BAGUIO CITY – Kalinga residents are worried about the possible break out of tribal conflicts in the Cordillera region after the Basao and Lubo tribes severed over the weekend their bodong (peace treaty) after the murder of an Y-Basao college student earlier this month.

Kalinga Provincial Peace and Order liaison officer Rev. Luis Aoas said the Basao tribe has sent a letter declaring the severance of the bodong and that the Y-Lubo tribe had accepted it.

Both tribes are reportedly preparing for hostilities.

But other tribes in the region are working double time to avert a tribal war between the tribes.

Tabuk Councilor Fidel Pan-oy, a Butbut tribesman, told a local newsweekly here they are now working on the demand of the Basao tribe for the Y-Lubo to hand over to them a peace offering of an indigenous jar locally called damask and a carabao called palakod.

Pan-oy said these peace offerings must first be given to the aggrieved tribe before representatives from of tribes agree to negotiate another bodong.

Kalinga police said murder charges have already been filed against suspect Baldwin Tongnawa, a Lubo-Salegseg tribesman, and the owner of the tricycle that was used as the escape vehicle.

Meantime, St. Louis College of Bulanao president Rev. Feliciano Agatep blamed the indigenous bodong justice system for the killings and vendettas in the province.

"It is high time that Kalingas accept civil law into their lives by turning over criminal cases to the government once they have settled the civil aspect under the bodong," Agatep said.

Other Kalinga residents said tribesmen should learn to bring their conflicts to court so that an entire tribe will not be held accountable for the crime committed by one person.

Under the bodong system, the perpetrator of a crime is freed once a settlement is forged and no cases are usually filed in court.

The whole tribe is also held responsible for a crime committed by any tribe member and all members of that tribe could be the subject of retaliation by the aggrieved tribe.