TINGLAYAN, Kalinga – Elders of the Tongrayan and Tulgao tribes agreed to forge a ceasefire in the disputed area among members of both tribes to allow the normal course of life to continue in the place while allowing the government regulations and laws to resolve their conflict.
Acting Gov. James Edduba said the members of the provincial peace and order council (PPOC) were able to convince the elders of the feuding tribes to agree on the ceasefire and allow existing laws, rules and regulations in the settlement of disputes to take their sources to help defuse the brewing tension among members of the warring tribes.
“We have to all laws, rules and regulations to take their course now that the bodong between the tribes failed. Maybe there were conditions which we failed to read between the lines that resulted to the eventual impairment of the bodong that is why we decided to allow government regulations to be in place,” Edduba stressed.
He said police and military personnel were deployed in the disputed area to closely monitor the activities of the members of both tribes and serve as peace officers to prevent whatever untoward incident that would suddenly erupt as a result of the severed bodong.
According to him, the Tulgao Tribe already made a peace offering but the same was not yet returned by the Tongrayan Tribe that is why there is still a tendency for the hostilities to escalate between the members of the two tribes that is why it is still best for the government to continue to be on top of the situation which was able to be realized since the problem started last week.
It can be recalled hostilities between the two tribes erupted following the unsettled boundary dispute which resulted to the Tongrayan tribe suffering from two injured persons with one of them undergoing close medical supervision at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).
According to him, what is good about the situation is that concerned stakeholders, including provincial and municipal officials, were able to put the situation under control to prevent further bloodshed and make the members and elders of the bribes agree to spare those outside the conflict area from the hostilities, thus, students and professionals will not be affected by whatever conflicts in their place.
As an offshoot of the defused tribal war, the Cordillera Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) and the Regional Development Council (RDC) passed a resolution reminding all tribes in the different parts of the region to recognize the declaration of Baguio City and Benguet as peace zones and to spare the areas from whatever spill over of their conflicts so as not to affect the good peace and order situation in the said areas.
Further, the RPOC and RDC approved a separate resolution supporting the settlement of disputes through their culture and traditions but once there will be violence, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will have to take control of the situation to sustain the prevalence of law and order in the affected communities. By HENT
