SADANGA, Mountain Province – The initial talks organized to bring together tribal elders of the feuding Betwagan tribe of this municipality and the neighboring Butbut tribe of nearby Tinglayan, Kalinga ended in a stalemate after more than six hours of passionate exchange of thoughts, ideas and historical accounts.
However, Mayor Adolf Ganggangan considered the dialogue successful because both of the tribes were represented and all the revelations of the tribal elders were recognized during the dialogue hosted by the municipal government.
He pointed out that the recent dialogue was the first time both the feuding tribes had been represented and sat together to extensively discuss the issues that must be resolved to put an end to the decades-old conflict for the attainment of law and order in the disputed place.
The municipal chief executive assured that concerned government agencies and the local governments will continue to work hard in finding ways and means on how to settle the long standing conflict to allow people to freely move around the disputed area leading towards their respective villages.
Earlier, the Butbut tribe requested the Sadanga municipal government to host the recent dialogue between the tribal elders of the Betwagan and Butbut tribes to explore the possibility of settling the long standing dispute.
Mayor Ganggangan emphasized that concerned stakeholders will not tire in looking for possible solutions to the Betwagan-Butbut conflict because it is important to make these villages peaceful so that people can peacefully pursue their activities and sources of livelihood without fear of being harmed.
According to him, what is important is that both tribes were properly represented during the recent dialogue and given the opportunity to ventilate their issues and concerns so that each of the parties can evaluate and assess what happened for them to be able to come together in another forum until such time that a solution shall have been agreed upon.
Ganggangan considered the recent dialogue as a breakthrough in the long standing conflict because both of the parties had a chance to present their respective positions in the presence of the other party for them to really understand their positions on the conflict.
The Betwagan tribe earlier demanded the Butbut tribe to free the disputed area of their animals and to refrain from using the area as their pasture land before entering into a ‘sipat’ but the Butbut tribe insisted that the disputed area is their property that is why they do not want to free remove their animals there.
Ganggangan said that the dialogue peacefully ended with the insinuation that there will be future gatherings to be organized by the concerned stakeholders to compel each of the parties to come to terms for the benefit of lasting peace in the two provinces.
Kalinga Gov. James Edubba personally visited Mountain Province Gov. Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. during the 15th Founding Anniversary Kick-off Program of the Cordillera Administrative Region in Sagada town to signify his desire to find solutions to settle the long-standing conflict between the two tribes.
