Ten participants of the Action Asia Peace Builders Forum were impressed over how the Higaonons of Rogongon in Iligan City settle conflicts the indigenous way.

The delegates, upon arriving at Rogongon, situated in the mountains 27 kilometers away from downtown Iligan, were greeted with a “pamales,” a tribal ritual wherein chicken blood were sprinkled over the footsteps of the visitors to keep the bad emotions away.

The delegates were brought to Rogongon courtesy of the Pailig Development Foundation, Inc. (PDFI), an Iligan-based non-government organization.

“I am impressed how people in the community commit themselves to traditional rituals to get rid of negative emotions,” said Nepalese Tulasi Ram Nepal. “Not all of us are blessed with traditional ways of resolving conflict unlike the people of Rogongon,” he added.

Tulasi admitted that back in my country, his people have not explored indigenous ways of resolving conflict. “With the way things went with the community of Rogongon, I think we should start looking into it. Maybe its far more effective than the current way of how we respond to conflict,” he said.

The members of the tribal council in Rogongon -- composed of Moro, Christian and Higaonon representatives living together in the area -- eagerly shared their experiences in resolving conflict and preserving peace in the community.

“We use to have a system before, each Datu has his own role in the community, from being the keeper of the history, to being a protector of the tribe,” relayed Sultan Sangka. But through the years, he said the system was usurped by some politicians. Suddenly, there were datus proclaimed not in accordance with traditional ways, whose interests were mainly after the ancestral domain of the indigenous folks. Thus, conflict ensued.

“I’m afraid that time will come when the system will totally fade and we will soon lose our identity as to who we really are,” the sultan lamented. But he pointed out that the community is working together to counter this development.

Stanley Uriarte, managing director of PDFI, said that they are making headway in helping promote peace in the area after they conducted a research on the “rido” situation in Rogongon. “Rido” is a clan war that lasts for generation common among tribal and Moro communities in Mindanao.

Uriarte said that since then, PDFI, in coordination with the local leaders, has introduced interventions to change people’s attitudes, like helping them engage in food production.

Some of the notorious personalities, he said, have already gone into farming. But a few still work in their farms with their guns nearby. “It’s a paradigm we can’t change overnight; there’s still a lot of things to be done,” Uriarte admitted.

He pointed out that the people’s participation in the process is very important. “There’s a lot of activities in which people in the community can join in, irrespective of their tribes or religion. One of these is education and the promotion of sustainable agriculture in which our organization is working with the community,” says Uriarte.

Ahmed Udin Nasir, a participant from Bangladesh, said that what struck him most was the participation of the people in resolving conflicts. “Its good to hear that people of the community work together to preserve peace,” he said.

Nasir said that they still have a long way to go in his country, but added that his encounter with the people of Rogongon “gives me an idea how to start.”

Maes Sokeo of Cambodia, after hearing tribal leaders, said that members of the tribal council seem far more experienced than himself when it comes to building peace even though he has been through a lot of training on this subject. “I admire the efforts of the community leaders in preserving peace in the area,” he added.