Tribal wars and bodong in the Cordillera
In recent years, there has been a spate of tribal wars in the Cordillera due to the instigation of reactionary politicians, military and paramilitary forces and criminal syndicates in the region.
There is the unmistakable provocation and escalation by the Cordillera People's Liberation Army (or CPLA, a counterrevolutionary group that has become a paramilitary force of the AFP and PNP) of the long-standing feud between the Butbut tribe in Tinglayan, Kalinga and the Betwagan tribe in Sadanga, Mt. Province. In order to expand its illegal logging operations and marijuana cultivation, the CPLA, which is primarily based in Tinglayan, has intruded into Betwagan territory.
The eruption of tribal wars has also become more frequent because the Local Government Code has been pushing tribes, villages and towns to expand their territories in order to increase their Internal Revenue Allotment.
War and bodong. Tribal war is a primitive means of forcibly resolving conflicts between tribes based on the concept of "a tooth for a tooth" until parity is achieved or until one side has firmly maintained a decisive advantage over the other.
Whenever war breaks out between tribes, everybody — young and old, men and women — is mobilized in various aspects of the conflict — from stocking up food supplies, setting up a system of defense, procuring arms and ammunition, going on sentry duty, undertaking reconnaissance of the movements of the enemy tribe up to carrying out attacks and retreating. All members of the tribes in conflict, even the innocent and the defenseless, are targets of attack wherever they may be.
The bodong, on the other hand, is a tribal institution aimed at stopping tribal wars, ensuring the protection of each tribe, and establishing a peaceful alliance. It comes in the form of a clear agreement between two tribes concerning matters important to both, including questions of land, resources and territorial boundaries, life, livelihood, property, justice and the honor of the warring tribes.
Through bodong, the various issues under contention or that need to be addressed through cooperation by the binodngan (communities carrying out bodong) are resolved.  In principle and in practice, the Party and the NPA actively participate in stopping tribal wars and in influencing and guiding the forging and upholding of bodong. They ensure that the NPA as the army of the entire people and the armed forces of the reactionary state as the enemy of the entire people never get involved in tribal wars. The Party and the NPA actively pursue a just peace between tribes and among the people in order to direct the people's struggle against the reactionary ruling classes who are the real enemies of the people. This is in accordance with the principle that contradictions among the people are secondary and non-antagonistic.
The issues causing tribal conflicts may be resolved through peaceful and democratic means, including the use of indigenous methods such as tungtongan and amicable settlements. To achieve the immediate and strategic cessation of tribal wars, the revolutionary movement identifies their roots and the necessary measures to take. Together with the people, the Party and the NPA pinpoint and oppose the evil purposes of the reactionary forces inciting these wars for their own benefit.
Progressive bodong. The revolutionary movement recognizes and respects indigenous mores, including the bodong. The progressive aspects of these indigenous mores are encouraged, developed, and imbued with revolutionary content. Among such progressive aspects are the concepts that ensure that any serious injustice does not go unpunished, that conflicts should be resolved to bring about peace, that the environment must be protected, and that land and other natural resources are collectively owned by all and not just by a few. The negative aspects of indigenous customs are repudiated. The revolutionary movement recognizes that the obligation of tribes under the bodong to launch war against opposing tribes is a negative aspect of binodngan tradition, and must therefore be eradicated. Instead of fighting with each other, the revolutionary movement encourages tribes to redirect their struggle against the common enemy of the national minorities—the reactionary state and the reactionary ruling classes that exploit and oppress them.
Although many vestiges of the primitive forms and means of the bodong remain, the ancient or traditional bodong, which existed before the semicolonial and semifeudal system permeated the entire country, has for the most part been eradicated. In binodngan areas where reactionary control and influence on the issue of tribal war and bodong still prevail, a distorted bodong exists. In places where the leadership and influence of the revolutionary movement are already predominant, the Party and the NPA actively influence and guide the formation of bodong. They adjust to the vestiges of primitive bodong forms and processes and develop them towards becoming a new type of bodong that is more progressive, democratic and patriotic.
The new type of bodong upholds the interests of the exploited and oppressed masses of the people and unites the tribes towards achieving the class-based solidarity of the oppressed and exploited against the enemies of the Filipino people. Together with the struggle for self-determination, the new type of bodong advances the struggle for national freedom and democracy. It is not limited to two or three binodngan tribes, but involves the broadest number of tribes. It practices a progressive democracy—it does not limit decision-making to a handful of pangat or tribal leaders but expands it to include the majority of the tribe. In particular, the exploited and oppressed, as well as women and youth, have strong voices in decision-making and their interests are given the biggest weight. The bodong of a new type is firmly linked to the tribespeople's participation in advancing people's war.
There is a wealth of lessons to be reaped from the experience of forging stronger and broader links among tribes through the help of the new type of bodong, such as the multilateral and extensive bodong involving the various Kalinga and Bontoc tribes against the Chico Dam Project during the Marcos dictatorship.
The extensive bodong also forges people's unity against the entry of foreign mining corporations, commercial logging and other businesses that seize and wreak havoc on the lands, natural resources, livelihood and welfare of the national minorities. With the greater unity achieved by the binodngan people, they are able to train their weapons at their class enemies and the reactionary state, and not against their fellow oppressed and exploited.
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