Renewed Butbut-Betwagan conflict has reached

April 4, 2022 Provincial

Malacañang, says Kalinga Bodong Council chair The failure to undergo a “sipat” when tension escalated between the Butbut tribe of Tinglayan, Kalinga, and Betwagan of Sadanga, Mountain Province last March 23 due to a proposed boundary solution rejected by the former and approved by the latter’s provincial board has reached Malacanang, the Kalinga Bodong Council reported this week.
“And again we received an invitation from Major General Mina from the Fifth Infantry Division and there is an order from the Chief of Staff to the army.,” said KBC chair Ngao-i during the recent joint Provincial Peace and Order Council-Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PPOCPADAC) meeting.
Ngao-I, in Iloko, added that this “issue has already reached Malacanang.
In the said meeting, Ngao-i informed officials that the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity, according to the Public Information Office – Tabuk, “has interceded to help in the resolution of the conflict, recently meeting with task force members of Kalinga and local officials of Mt. Province in Bontoc to present their concerns and proposals.”
The warring tribes have been embroiled in a decades-long boundary dispute that saw them sever their ‘bodong’ (peace pact) and has triggered violence. One life has so far been claimed.
There is no progress in the resolution of the conflict, said Ngao-i who added that recent efforts to restore peace between the two tribes through a ‘sipat’ (peace accord) have failed.
The two tribes reached an impasse after Kalinga SP rejected the boundary findings of the Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee (RLECC) while the Mt. Province SP affirmed it.
Last March 23, tensions rose anew after members of the Butbut tribe went to the disputed boundary and fired shots. The PPOC-PADAC passed a resolution requesting authorities to dispatch police detachments to the centers of Bugnay and Butbut to prevent escalation of tension.
It also asked that increased police visibility is hoped to make tribe members think twice about heading to the disputed border. Meanwhile, the task force will ask barangay leaders of the two barangays to hold a ‘sipat’ during the scheduled meeting with the Fifth Infantry Division.
The ‘sipat’ is being pushed because barangay officials’ are also mandated to maintain peace and order, Ngao-I added.
Pigeon Lobien/ABN