Matagoan Program of the Tabuk City LGU institutionalized

By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Ten years after it inception and after reaping national and even international recognition, the Matagoan Program of this city’s LGU has been institutionalized through an ordinance passed recently.
The program is intended to bring about peace between feuding parties though the usage of indigenous peace-making practices. It also advances the cause of peace in the community by passing policies which aim to prevent disputes and to govern the settlement of disputes in the event they break out.
On the basis of the program’s accomplishments during the period 2006-2008 foremost of which is the improvement of the peace and order situation, the LGU received the prestigious Galing Pook Award in 2009 making it the first ever Cordillera LGU to win the award.
The Galing Pook Foundation chose the Matagoan Program as its entry in the seminar conducted by Liaison Group, the network of award-giving bodies of various countries including the Galing Pook based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in Cusco, Peru on December 8-13,2010.
Former Tabuk City mayor Camilo Lammawin, Jr., the initiator of the program, presented the same during the seminar which dealt with movements and innovations being made to improve the lot of indigenous peoples around the world.
Authored by Councilor Faustino Teckney, Jr., Ordinance No. 03, series of 2011, institutionalized the Matagoan Program as the peace program of the city and also provides that allocation for its implemented be included in the annual budget.
Section 2 of the ordinance created the Matagoan Bodong Consultative Council which consists of the city mayor who is chairman, the vice mayor who is vice chairman, the program coordinator and other members who may be appointed by the mayor.
Under Section 4, the following are the functions of the MBCC: acts as policy-making and peace-making body; oversees the implementation of approved peace policies; mediates and conciliates; initiates dornats (rewarming) of the bodong or peace pact; conducts information and education campaign on the program.
In the brief explanatory note, the ordinance recalled that the Matagoan Program was established in 2001 “to establish Tabuk as a peace sanctuary by restoring harmonious relationships and peaceful co-existence between and among the concerned tribes in the place by employing traditional and alternative means of resolving their cases involving both inter-personal and inter-tribal disputes or conflicts.”
It reasoned that since the program is an effective and efficient peace-making means, there is a need to institutionalize it “to help preserve peace and order in Tabuk.”
Program Coordinator Alexander Gunaban lauded the passage of the ordinance saying that now, the program is assured of continuity and regular funding.
He explained that the Matagoan Program is just a special program under the office of the mayor and as such could be discontinued anytime. The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) may or may not also allocate funds for it.
He bared that up until now, the Matagoan Program does not have an allocation of its own but shares in the budget of the City Peace and Order Council. **