INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S WATCH
Baguio: A Tribal War Free-Zone
Elders declare Baguio City as mataguan or tribal war-free zone in an
effort to contain the destructive effects of tribal wars.
BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY
— At least 60 tribal elders, including women from Kalinga,
Abra, and Mt. Province in Northern Philippines gathered Nov. 13 and
entered into a pact that declared Baguio City as mataguan (tribal
war-free zone).
The mataguan is a practice in
binodngan communities where both parties agree that a certain area
is war-free zone.
The elders, through their council
representatives to the Metro-Baguio Tribal Elders Assembly, plan to bring
the agreement to the city council and offer to join the peace and order
committee to address tribal conflicts that may spill to the city.
The elders’ assembly was organized as
tribal wars between warring tribes usually extend to the city, endangering
tribe members who have already migrated in this summer capital of the
country.
Elders as mediators
Lakay Ben Casilen, 72, member of the
Tocucan tribe from Bontoc, said the elders in the city play an important
role in mediating between warring tribes.
“As elders, we are committed to talk with
members of warring tribes in the city for the conflict resolution,” added
Casilen. Casilen has lived in Baguio since 1948 and is a member of the San
Luis Barangay Council here.
He added that many members of the
binodngan communities have migrated here and are residents of the
city’s 128 barangays.
The City Planning Office records show
that 50 percent of Baguio City’s total population, or roughly 300,000
persons, come from the different Cordillera provinces.
Most tribal migrants live in urban
poor communities where social services are lacking. Their livelihood
sources are not stable as many work as sidewalk vendors and rip rap
laborers (those who build road and rice terrace walls). However, they
continue to maintain strong ties with their villages and practice their
customs and traditions even in the city, including participation in tribal
wars.
Heightened suffering
During the assembly, the elders
discussed how in cases of unresolved tribal conflict, members of warring
tribes are prohibited from going to work, attending school, or even buying
basic needs for fear of getting hurt.
Participants said tribal wars have
added to their other burdens such as unemployment, lack of social
services, threats of demolition dwellings, among others.
The on-and-off tribal conflict between
the Saclit and Poblacion tribes of Sadanga, Mt. Province, is the longest
conflict that has affected even tribe members in the city.
Obsolete
Marcus Bangit of the Malbong tribe of
Kalinga said tribal war is an obsolete means of resolving tribal conflict.
He said the practice was exercised in
the early days when there were no legal systems and institutions where
conflicts could be resolved and justice rendered. He also observed that
the causes of tribal wars are mostly petty quarrels between individuals,
often caused by drunkenness and drugs, but affect the whole villages.
Bangit’s group, the Binodngan Elders’
Organization, which uses indigenous systems of settling disputes, has
called for a stop to tribal wars as a means of settling conflicts because
of the danger it causes.
Migration push-factor
Ignacio Pangket,
member of the Sadanga tribe in Mt.
Province, on the other hand, identified the causes of migration, citing
economic issues like employment and job opportunities. He said the limited
agricultural land available also push people to migrate to the city.
The concentration of educational
institutions in the city also encourages migration, he added.
He also identified intense
militarization in the provinces as another push factor for migration.
NORDIS learned from the assembly that villagers are militarized to quell
villages’ opposition against development aggression projects, such as
corporate mining and mega dams.
The promise of a good life in the city
is but a dream, Pangket claims, as Cordillera migrants are among those who
suffered most from economic crises. Bulatlat
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