The Butbut tribe's Exodus

The Butbut Tribe’s Exodus: Surviving in a foreign land

June 22, 2014 in Cordillera, indigenous by patnugot

By ALMA B. SINUMLAG
www.nordis.net

LAST OF THREE PARTS
Click here for first part
Click here for second part

We could have chosen to return to our home in the upland but the terror we experienced was still lingering especially among the women and children. We chose to survive and rebuild our lives and community here, said Ama Banag during their cultural exchange with the Paiwan tribe of Taiwan on April 2013.

The Butbut tribe from Buscalan and Ngibat settled in the grass land in Anonang, Liwan West, Rizal, Kalinga on March 7, 1988 with little cash and no farm tools. The first thing that Ama Banag and other elders did was to build houses for around 60 families. They built the said houses through the practice of innamuju or helping every family to erect a house. All the houses were built after more than a month of collective efforts to finish the first house until the last one. They made use of available resources and materials specially cogon grass and bamboo and a minimal number of trees. For a month, they depended on relief goods from William Claver, the Episcopal Church and other personalities.

On April 1988, after several discussions regarding CPLA’s terror against the Cordillera peoples, the elders lead by the Binodngan Peoples Organization (BPO) which Ama Banag chaired at that time called for the dismantling of the CPLA.

Overcoming terror, rebuilding community

To overcome the terror, the community did not think of going back. They focused on building the community and living their lives anew. But in a barren land, it could not be possible without external help. They informed the Montañosa Research and Development Center (MRDC) of their situation. MRDC is a non government organization that had been working with them for rural development in their villages in Tinglayan. To be able to plant rice and legumes, MRDC gave the community P10,000 to have the grassland plowed by a tractor. This was after they have settled in their houses.

In an interview with Matthew Tauli, Executive Director of MRDC, he recalled that once they received the information, they facilitated relief operations starting June 6, 1988. The food items came from the Church and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). There were also farm tools from the Montañosa Relief and Rehabilitation Services (MRRS).

MRDC assisted the re-settling community in reforesting the barren land. Fruit trees and many other varieties were planted in the village area and in the pongod (watershed). Their former animal dispersal project in the upland was continued in Anonang. Some villagers, Tauli said, went back in Tinglayan and brought down with them carabaos for the continuation of the dispersal. Today, carabaos are serving as families’ help in the field, food for special occasions and rituals, and for selling during emergency situations.

Since drinking water was scarce, Claver mobilized support for the first unit of water pumps and the next five units came from the Episcopal Church. Moreover, a wind powered water pump was also facilitated by MRDC purposely to relieve the women and children from the hard work of pumping to bring out potable underground water.

The formation of a community organization with the assistance of MRDC and Timpuyog Dagiti Mannalon ti Kalinga (TMK) made it easier for them to access projects for their further adaptation in the foreign land. The Anonang Community Organization (ACO) managed several socio-economic projects like irrigation and water system. Ama Banag mentioned that it had many difficulties in the process but they were able to surpass it through the practice of democratic consultations, community meetings and upholding organizational decisions. Women and youth organizations were set up later in the 1990s. TMK organizers recalled that in 1990, the Anonang Youth Organization was very active in cultural work and were the majority members of Kalinga Cultural Group that presented the province’s situation during the Cordillera Day held in Conner, Apayao.

Continuing the struggle

The Butbut tribe of Anonang may have been dislocated from their ancestral land but their participation in the Cordillera Mass Movement did not stop. Elders like Ama Banag continued campaigning for the dismantling of CPLA and towards the achievement of genuine democracy and self determination. Youth joined the wider Kalinga youth movement. The vibrance of women’s organization cannot be discounted specially on their role in community’s peace keeping and solidarity with other women’s organizations in the province.

Healing scarred relations

The CPLA terror did not only displace them from their ancestral land. For Ama Banag, it destroyed his relationship with his only brother. His brother was the one who made a statement during the height of the CPLA split to kill him because he was just a hindrance to their salary as CPLA. It was a statement that deeply scarred their relationship. One generation has passed but those words were not forgotten. Since their departure from Buscalan, he never talked to his brother and never mentioned his name to his family or to his neighbors. They may see each other in tribal occasions but they never engaged in brotherly conversations since.

Today however, Ama Banag said, his brother realized how wrong he was and is starting to bridge the break he caused. They are now talking in a civil manner but it is a common understanding for both to never mention issues from that horrifying history of the tribe.

Never forget

Today, the elders of Anonang are always telling the young people to know about their history; the history of the exodus that has driven them away from their ancestral land. For the Butbut tribe especially in Buscalan and Ngibat who witnessed that history, it is still unimaginable to forget.

CPLA leadership may have weakened today but the name still sounds evil to them and every time they hear it, history is brought back.

Elders said during their cultural exchanges with the Paiwan tribe of Taiwan in April 2013 that they will never forget until CPLA is totally dismantled and will never be heard; and until genuine justice is achieve for the lives they have taken and for the tribe that has been dislocated from its roots. # nordis.net