Abra town keeps politics bloodless through ‘butong’

BAGUIO CITY — Abra province may be a poll hot spot in Monday’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, but in one of its towns, an indigenous consensus-building arrangement makes peaceful voting possible.

All candidates in 10 villages in Tubo town are running unopposed, thanks to the Maeng tribe’s “butong,” a tradition that has also guided village elders in resolving disputes.

Pedro Mateo, a member of the Dap-ay di Tubo (Tubo council of elders), said they resorted to butong after political rivalries intensified in the 2007 and 2010 elections.

Under the tribe’s charter, the elders choose a winning candidate from a list of aspirants presented to them by the village.

Council’s choice

“We present the council’s choice to the people for their approval,” Mateo said.

Barangay Tabacda is included in the election watch list of the Cordillera police, though Mateo said the village had not seen poll-related violence since 2013 due to butong.

The Dap-ay di Tubo is composed of 200 elders who helped draw up the charter governing elections and the criteria for selecting candidates.

“We remind the candidates [about their sworn duties] and call them out when we have to. If they fail to correct [mistakes], we remove them from office,” Mateo said.

The butong was put to a test in 2016, when the elders’ choices were challenged by villagers who filed their own certificates of candidacy. Mateo said the challengers lost the election.

“Tubo villages are closely knit and everybody knows everybody. Which is why we know who are suited for government work,” said Mariano Dangatan, chair of the Tipon ti Umili para iti Panangsaluad iti Nakaparsuan.

Said Benjawin Dawala, secretary of the council of elders at Barangay Tubtuba: “Politics is one of the main reasons for the division among the people.”