Kalinga tribes restore bodong after seven decades of conflict

By Leonora Lo-oy

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – After seven decades of severed bodong or peace pact between Lubuagan and Lubo, Tanudan, a ‘sipat’ was recently performed here restoring the pact between said tribes.
    According to the narrative of elders, the severance of their bodong happened in 1949 due to some unfortunate event.
    Peace pact elders refused to detail the event which began the decades' conflict to avoid further disputations.
    Since 1949, some lives were taken from both sides and some individuals suffered injuries.
    While there were intermarriages between Lubuagan and Lubo the past years, one of the elders said this was not enough to hold ties between the two tribes.
    Elders said there should be a sipat and the restoration of the bodong.
    To start then with the first step of the restoration of peace, the elders of both tribes agreed to perform the Sipat during the pre-discussion meeting at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Hall moderated by Jeffrey Uyam and Benedicto Sugguiyao who represented Kalinga indigenous people’s mandatory representative Michael Sugguiyao.
    During the sipat ceremony facilitated by Leonardo Bon-as, one of the living witnesses of the Mount Data sipat, Lubuagan mayor Charisma Ann Dickpus and Tanudan Mayor Jaedicke Rhoss Dagadag exchanged peace tokens.
     Benedicto Sugguiyao explained that Sipat should be performed first since it is the first step of bodong and that without it, the two tribes cannot discuss and talk.
    After the sipat, he said, the holders informed their respective tribes about the ceremony and the sipat was accepted.
    Once the constituents of the two tribes were informed about the exchange of peace tokens, the process of surdip took place later wherein one party invited the other to start the talk.
    This process was when they discussed and addressed issues and concerns.
    Elders said it is also during Surdip that sipping of wine ritual is done which symbolizes the first taste of peace.
    After this, the next process is going to be the formal celebration which include the formalization of the Bodong between the two tribes, elders said.
    Sugguiyao said this is a process and both tribes can take their time after the Sipat.
     “Nu malpas diay ‘bogga’ [telling the tribe about the Sipat] haan tayo nga iru-rush daytoy proseso ta daytuy ket permanente ... Let’s take the time we need,” he said.
‘    Nu agsubli ti mayat a relasyon ket pagsayaatan ti duwa nga ili’
    Sugguiyao expressed that the restoration of peace benefits both warring tribes, “awan met ti makita a pagdaksan nu agsubli iti relasyon a napintas a kasta, pagsayaatan met iti duwa nga ili.”
    This is why, he said, Mayor Dickpus and Mayor Dagadag had this desire to call on the elders of Lubuagan and Lubo for the pre-discussion meeting at the SP hall. “Inut-inuten tayo a mangbirok iti wagas nu kasatnu tayo a ma-attain diyay nasayaat [nga pagbanagan ti ili],” he conveyed.
     ‘It’s high time nga isimpa tayon daytoy bodong’
    Meantime, Uyam, one of the moderators of the pre-discussion, also expressed it was high time the severed bodong of the two tribes was fixed.
     “Losan tako na angangsan ket its high time a kanan da a, the greatest sacrifice ad kultura takon kinalinga is to forgive and forget, uray nu inya ti kinapait ti napaspasamak,” he said.
    He then acknowledged the two mayors for initiating the start of the restoration of Bodong, “congratulations dituy nga duwa nga mayor ta napanunut da nga isimpa daytuy nga conflict.”