Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Not many people aware of model pagta

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The Kalinga tribal elders organized by Congressman Manuel Agyao to address the peace and order problems of the province are calling for the conduct of a massive information education campaign (IEC) on the model pagta as amended during the 5th Kalinga Bodong Congress (KBC) in April 2002.

The model pagta are the laws of the bodong, the tribal peace pact system practiced in Kalinga and some parts of Mtn. Province and Abra, drafted by the 4th KBC in 1998.

The Agyao Peace and Order Movement (APOM) said the IEC is necessary because most bodong practitioners in the province are not aware of the amendments made by the 5th KBC, which includes the prohibition of vengeance unless and until all peaceful means of settling have been exhausted.

In a resolution addressed to Agyao and Gov. Floydelia Diasen, the APOM requested for a P100,000.00 allocation to fund the reproduction of the model pagta and the conduct of IEC.

APOM chairman Ruben Tuazon informed this writer that IEC will be conducted in all bodong-practicing tribal communities ahead of the conduct of another bodong congress next year.

Among the proposed amendments that will be discussed in the next bodong congress are the acknowledgement of national laws as over and above the bodong , a blanket prohibition on the severance of the bodong even in cases of killings, and that Kalinga policemen should be exempted from the effects of the bodong while in the performance of their duties.

The practice of some tribes of invoking the bodong and penalizing Kalinga policemen who go after suspects belonging to Kalinga tribes has always been an irritant between police authorities and the bodong community. **Estanislao Albanao Jr.