The Kiltepan dispute and the treacherous culture of passivism

The Kiltepan dispute and the treacherous culture of passivism

ROCKY JAKE CALDE NGALOB·SUNDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2015

June 2015, I had the privilege to witness and document an elders’ caucus in Kilong, Sagada. The caucus assembled all community recognized elders all over Sagada. This gathering is a dying customary practice done all over Cordillera wherein elders are summoned around the Dap-ay to settle tribal conflicts, boundary/territory disputes and other tribal problems requiring collective elders dialogue. In this gathering, tribal elders tackled the current territorial dispute between Kiltepan claimant Wilson Capuyan and the Kiltepan tribe.

With fellow UBian, Jerry Gittabao who happens to be a native of
Sagada as my documentator buddy during the Elders' Dialogue 

Like legislative sessions wherein lawmakers follow parliamentary procedures, this tribal elders caucus also share almost the same set of rules. The host Barangay Captain acts as the presiding officer among the summoned tribal elders, each representing a tribe or a community. The only difference, tribal elders do not vote, they tackle issues collectively as they work their way to a consensus in settling tribal issues.

During their dialogue, all of them stated that they were deceived since the beginning and it goes far during the days of former Mountain Province Governor Alfredo Lam-en. According to them they were pleased to have an educated local native representing them in the region. Little did they know behind their smiles, Lam-en through his education in law school and government position started leasing out parcels of land to his name. One of which, was a land communally owned by the Kiltepan tribe and was then purchased by Wilson Capuyan, hence, the dispute over Kiltepan.

Elders recalled how they manage their land long before there were land tittles. Ownership of land before was based on how wide can an individual till it. Thus, elders back then claim ownership of a land regardless how wide it is, provided they can till or utilize it and each one of them are conscious not to go beyond their boundaries or claim ownership of vast land which are communally owned by the people. These lands namely Kiltepan are considered ancestral domains and in no way can be owned by an individual or a tribe member but the tribe as a whole for communal purposes. Indeed, with this kind of system of land ownership, people of Sagada back then were true to their credo “Adi bubukodan di gawis”.

AGREEING TO A CONSENSUS. Elders gather around the fire known as the
Dap-ay to discussing pressing issues affecting their locality.

I their exchanges, one elder caught my attention when he started sharing his disappointments to individuals who used their educational attainment to exploit the legal ignorance of their fellows. “Ignorante kami. saan mi ammo nga idi gayam ay-ayaban dakami nga aggangsa iti okasyon da ket mainagnaganen gayam ti dagdaga mi. Kasasakit nga panunuten nga apay pay nga dagijay di adal nga kakailyan ti mang traydor ti umili da”, said the elder which was supplemented by the rest. “Ngem ti kasasakitan, ket adu dagiti daduma pay nga de-adal nga kakailyan nga akin ammo ti sitwasyon ti ili nga mabalin kuma tumulong ngem naulimek da ken handa payen agawid ditoy ili nga nagappuan da”, said by another frustrated elder.

Indeed, education became the ladder of most youths to elevate themselves above their community and elders. Educational degree nowadays became a status symbol separating the educated ones from the rest like celebrities. Worst, education became their ticket in escaping social responsibility inside their community from which they came.

Sure, every student wants to escape poverty through education but at the expense of ignoring their social responsibility? That is plain selfishness and considerably as the most treacherous act that an individual can do to its fellow ‘kakailyans’. Some will argue that they are neither silent nor ignorant of these issues and that they are just ‘neutral’. However that doesn’t excuse them as traitors to their ‘kakailyans’, this because siding neutrality is the same as expressing allegiance towards the oppressor. In this case, the oppressor is Wilson Capuyan. Neutrality helps the oppressor and never the oppressed which in the case, the Kiltepan Tribe.

Sadly, this passiveness act of neutrality extends to all social issues and not only Kiltepan dispute. Graduates, professionals or the educated public are now handing their oppressed community on a silver platter over to the oppressors by simply choosing to be silent or neutral. We see large mining companies continue to exploit resources from our lands, we see the Armed Forces of the Philippines continue to militarize our community spreading terror and fear towards the people dwelling in the area, thus, leading to countless human rights violations, then we mourn these victims of human rights violations, yet most of us don’t even lift a finger or utilize its education to change the current situation.

We must break this culture of passiveness and once again revive the militancy among the people. Now that we are needed the most, lets help grassroots from which we came. Let’s put our education into good use and empower our communities for them to move forward towards genuine development. Let’s set aside our personal interest and stop thinking on what is beneficial for one’s self but start thinking what is constructive to the majority or in this case the less privilege grassroots.

Meanwhile going back to the Kiltepan dispute, there is still hope, because on the legal battle to reclaim Kiltepan, local lawyers together with their small army of volunteer student paralegals all from Sagada are working pro bono to ensure that legal ownership will go to the Kiltepan tribe. Exchanges and sentiments among the elders will be used by their lawyers to reinforce their arguments as to the rightful claimants of Kiltepen before the NCIP. But again, this can only do so little if the culture of passiveness prevails among the educated public.

KILTEPAN SUN RISE