Among the problems faced by the Cordillera’s indigenous peoples today ­ particularly by those of them who are organized as tribes ­ is inter-community conflict which often results in the outbreak of tribal war.

Tribal war is extremely costly to tribes. Not only does it claim the lives of warriors; it also impacts on women and children. Not only does it disrupt daily life; it is also disturbing to the psyche. Not only does it use up time that could be devoted to labor; it also imposes limitations on movement between home and farm, village and forest, barrio and poblacion. Rice crops go untended; swidden fields get neglected; cattle are left to wander on their own. Few visits can be made to the forest, whether for fetching firewood or for hunting game. Students are forced to drop out of school, employees to take leaves of absence. Traveling to town to sell produce or buy consumer goods, or even to seek medical attention, can be dangerous. Huge sums of money are spent not only on medical care for the wounded and mortuary rites for the slain, but also on the purchase of arms and munitions. This is a heavy toll on the resources of a tribe. Tribal war often results in economic crisis among the tribes involved.

Dispute over territorial boundaries and resources remains a major cause of tribal war. But the past five years have seen an increasing number of tribal wars erupting as a consequence of violence inflicted while engaging in criminal and other anti-social activities ­ for example, hold-up, robbery, gambling, drug abuse, excessive drunkenness, etc. Many have involved young people and taken place in urban areas like the Tabuk town center or the city of Baguio. There have also been instances when tribal war erupted as a consequence of election relatedviolence.

Two factors drive young people into engaging in criminal and other anti-social activities: one is desperation over the lack of livelihood within a society whose economy is in a state of chronic crisis; the other is the proliferation of decadent values within this society. Both can be expected to worsen as government steps up its implementation of programs for the advancement of imperialist globalization ­ programs which are destroying local agriculture, commerce, and industry, and which are facilitating the propagation of foreign culture.

Most tribal youth today do not really know the principles and rules which underpin the practice of bodong and tribal war.

Whenever contradictions arise between persons belonging to different tribes, the bodong is immediately invoked, and the case is immediately regarded as a cause for tribal war. Yet in the past, tribes were able to resolve many such contradictions by engaging in deliberation and persuasion instead of declaring their bodong broken and going to war. Only when its attempts at peaceful resolution failed, or when the tribe of an offending party let the offense go unaddressed, would a case be elevated to the status of a tribal conflict. If it led to a series of retaliatory killings, then it becomes a case of tribal war.

The situation calls for the restoration and strengthening of the valuable role traditionally played by elders in decision-making on all matters that concern tribes.

There exist various groups that discuss issues pertaining to bodong and tribal conflict. Among these is BPO, the militant Binodngan Peoples’ Organization. It was founded in 1993 by a few elders representing a handful of tribes in Kalinga and the Mountain Province. It has since grown into a large regional formation with provincial chapters in the two provinces mentioned plus the province of Abra.

Another group is that of the Metro-Baguio Tribal Elders, which held its second general assembly last November 13, 2004, with about 60 elders who had come from 22 different tribes in Kalinga, the Mountain Province, and Abra, but were already residing in Baguio. Among the resolutions they adopted was to remove the city of Baguio from the reach of tribal war so as to spare students and workers or employees.

The BPO actively works for the prevention and cessation of tribal war. Its program includes the following.

• Monitoring, documenting, investigating, and analyzing cases of tribal conflict;

• Waging a broad campaign to educate tribal communities, and especially the youth, in a more progressive way of approaching, analyzing, and addressing tribal conflict and the issues which give rise to it;

• Helping local groups of tribal elders to broaden their reach and build their capacity through education, training, and other means;

• Mobilizing the more progressive elders for the work of mediating between tribes and facilitating the resolution of tribal hostilities;

• Mobilizing the elders for campaigns pertaining to land-resource rights, imperialist globalization, militarization, and other issues that affect tribal communities; and

• Coordinating the plans and activities of the elders on a regional level. #