Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Is the Bodong still relevant for today among the e kalingas?

Bodong is still relevant for today.people misunderstood what really bodong means..It was already planted in the mind of the young generation that bodong is simply "an eye to an eye, a tooth for a tooth." while in fact this principle is against the bodong by laws which is the "pagta". Pagta is the laws of the bodong, and it was never stated in it that revenge is acceptable.
The failure of the bodong lies on the poor discipline of the people who made such truce or peace pact. We didn't respect or follow such rules according to the pagta, many of us prefer to put the law on our own hand rather than following the pagta or the existing modern laws. To break the Pagta nowadays is just as easy as ABC and 123..It was also never stated in the pagta that the whole tribe is involved when A of tribe x kills B of tribe Y..The involvement of the whole tribe is a bad practice passed on from generation to generation and yet we call this culture? Culture was derived from the root name KULTURA (am not sure if it is a Greek word, or hebrew but not tagalog) and KULTURA means civilization.To abolished this bad practices is to simply educate our own self. Then we simply realised the true essence of the bodong, not the bad impression attached with it..and I pitty those who don't know what bodong really means cause their is no cure for ignorance.
i will try to post the "pagta" or the by laws of the bodong which is ammended during the Bodong Congress at the website.hope to find the book..

2 comments:

admindude said...

I agree that bodong is still relevant. The problem, as you stated, is that it is often misinterpreted and misunderstood. Ako nga, I also do not understand how it works. Although in fairness to myself (he he), I come from a non-binodngan area so makakalusot ako kung tatanungin ako about bodong and can't come up with an adequate/correct answer. But yeah, I think bodong is still very relevant and important. It is after all a peace pact, and who of us do not want peace di ba?

yao gay said...

I realized just how lucky I am to have been born into a family of tribal leaders.I was exposed into it,observed its Pagta & been listening to deliberations.I saw many a cases been solved & friendships forged.There's nothing as great as the Bodong system.U can hear wisdom of the old.The power of serenity,gentleness & reason.Much much much & far far far better than going to a ...u know some evil lawyers in the country.