English - Balay Mindanaw

Part 3 - Mga Paghusay: Concepts and Practices in Conflict ResolutionIn most cases, because of the desire of the datus to resolvethe conflict, they are the ones who look for the manggadas offering to the parties. This particularly happens if theoffender has nothing to offer, so the datu himself procuresthe manggad just to settle the conflict. This is one of thereasons why, according to Tatay Malindahay as pointed outin his life history, a datu would never get rich. “My Dumagatneighbors would tell me, ‘Datu, if you just saved all yourmoney instead of using it to help other people, you couldhave bought a car. But since you always help others, you endup with nothing.”Manggad is costly, that is why most datus interviewedremarked that unavailability of money is one of the factorsthat may hinder the speedy resolution of conflicts. Themanggad, however, can be negotiated by the mediating datus,especially when they could see that the manggad demandedby the aggrieved party is more than what the offender andthe datu himself can afford. This was shown in the caseA cooking pot, plates, bolo, money and a cloth, are among those used asmanggad.115