Bakun: It takes a mountain village-2

cont..

Both contending parties can argue freely. But any of the elders

can intervene at any time when the proceedings are going

nowhere or when the arguments become heated.

All speakers remain seated during the tongtong process. The

elders' council and the community folk gathered can reprimand

anyone who stands or points a finger at anybody.

The council and the community folk gathered also strictly

observe silence. Anyone desiring to talk gives a signal and

speaks only when it is his or her turn to do so.

Every elder (man and woman alike) who joins in the discussions

actually helps interpret the custom law under the tongtong

system. But the custom law interpreter has no power except to

persuade or mobilize public opinion to back his argument.

And anybody who joins in the tongtong deliberations acts

essentially as a moralist. As such, he or she advises the

disputing parties or mediates with tact and diplomacy. If

necessary, he or she even scolds to help repair the breach

between the contending parties.

Participatory

The tongtong system is participatory and no particular person

has been assigned beforehand to render a judgment. The

tongtong is done in a public place before as many people as

possible.

This set-up makes transparency the norm and lying can result in

severe loss of face.

An agreement or decision is made only after both parties have

presented their sides and tempers have calmed down. At this

point, an elder may call for a break to give elders and

participants a chance to answer the call of nature.

Elders and representatives from both parties huddle in a corner

to arrive at a common decision. The decision has to be

unanimous. No vote is taken.

Once it reaches a decision, the group meets again and an elder

with a loud voice announces the verdict. The group then

decides on the penalty.

Setting the penalty is also participatory.

The party to be penalized may bargain until a final penalty is

made. Only then can the tongtong rest the case.

Fines or penalties imposed on the guilty usually include the

costs of food and drinks that council members and community

folk consume during the tongtong session.

Ancient technology

Ever since they gave up hunting in favor of farming, the

Kankanaey and Bago have discovered ways to make the

foothills and river valleys in their homeland productive through

an ancient technology called batog (kabite), or riprapping.

An old engineering skill that the Kankanaey and Bago share

with the Bontocs and Ifugaos, riprapping involves the

construction of terraces by fitting stones or boulders on top of

one another to strengthen the foundation. These terraces are

able to retain fertile soil on which to grow crops such as the

traditional rice.

From their oral history, Bakun folk recall that among the early

settlers who introduced riprapping and terrace-farming was a

man named Ngala.

Ngala's children -- Lowaggan, Bilo-an and Ban-ngan -- followed

in the footsteps of their father and built the extensive rice

terraces in Bakun Central. Other early settlers followed suit.

These terraces, which have fed generations, have been named

after the three Ngala children.

Bakun remains self-sufficient in rice to this day because of the

town's centuries-old rice terraces. Bakun rice comes in various

colors of red, brown-red, violet and yellow. It is also sticky,

glutinous or soft.

The Kankanaey and Bago folk consider their rice sacred. They

brew the rice to make tapuy or rice wine and, along with

slaughtered animals, offer these to Kabunian, the Supreme

Being, from whom all abundance comes.

Bakun's Mt. Kabunian, named after the god, is a sacred place.

Forest resource

The wise use of forest resources is very much part of the culture

and spiritual belief system of the Kankanaey and Bago.

Bakun folk consider the indiscriminate cutting of trees a sin,

which can displease the spirits. Angered spirits, locals believe,

may even make a person ill or die if he fails to follow certain

rules and rituals when harvesting forest products.

This belief system is what governs the proper use of forest

resources. The Kankanaey and Bago have thus mastered the

use of each tree species. Certain trees are for building homes,

some for rituals and medicines, and some for food.

And gathering forest products depends on the particular need

of a person.

Kankanaey and Bago observe some form of ritual before cutting

down trees for building houses. Once one chooses a tree, he

prays before the tree, and if he sees no bad omen, he proceeds

to cut.

Once he cuts the first tree, he removes some of the branches

then he goes home to perform more rituals. If he sees no bad

omen, he goes back the following day to cut some more trees.

But he cuts only what he needs.

In case of a bad omen (usually observed in the liver and bile of

an animal offered to the gods and spirits) or if the cutter has had

a bad dream during his sleep, he foregoes the cutting of the tree.

Minor forest products may not involve elaborate rituals. But the

locals must be selective in harvesting them just the same. The

reason being that locals believe that Kabunian controls all

resources and humans can enjoy nature's bounty only if they

obey the rules, handed down orally from generation to

generation.

Disruption

The integration of the Cordillera peoples, who had never been

conquered by the Spanish, into the Philippine republic,

disrupted the way Bakun would manage, use and protect their

forests and other resources. The town's forests were declared

government reservations and logging concessions granted to

private timber companies like Heald Lumber before and after

World War II.

Bakun folk were allowed to manage, according to their culture

and traditions, only those family- or clan-maintained forests

called muyong.

They obtained a wider area to manage only after March 1998,

when Bakun was awarded a Certificate of Ancestral Domain

Claim or CADC. The CADC was awarded after lobbying efforts

by the local government and the BITO.

Through the CADC, local folk have reclaimed their lost muyong.

The CADC covers 29,346 hectares or almost all of Bakun's more

than 30,000-hectare area.

Had the CADC not been awarded, Heald Lumber would have

retained its logging concessions because the company had also

applied for an Integrated Forest Management Area (IFMA).

With the CADC, says Beta-a, the Bakun community is now

eager to protect and manage the town's second-growth pine

forests, according to their time-tested resource management

skills and knowledge.

Bakun folk have retained their dignity and use their ingenuity as

best they can. It may not stay that way. Mining companies,

dams, timber companies may come. These are iniquities that lie

in the future of Bakun. But with an environment-conscious

community, there is time to protect these things.