English - Balay Mindanaw

Part 2 - Four Datus: Stories of the Higaunon LifeTatay Malindahay was among the elders identified to be part of the Mandukita-Ansihagan conflict that was resolved in a meeting on April 10-11, 2006, 30 yearsafter the strife erupted. Facilitating the discussion is Datu Hulukuman.“I was still a farmer at the time. When there were problems,people would come to our house. ‘Datu, help me please becauseI have a relative in the hospital, help me please because mywife divorced me.’ There were lots of problems. Traditionally,a datu must not receive payment for his services. It is the datuwho should provide for everything. For example, if someoneis to be killed, but you as a datu would not want him killed,then you should defend him, securing the needed manggad.”(A manggad is something offered by the party responsible forsome crime to the offended party.)It is the responsibility of the datu to help his constituents --and even people outside his territory -- who seek for his help.This is the reason why he said that a tribal datu would neverget rich. During the time of Col. Alexander Noble, an Armyofficer who formed the “Lost Command” in Higaunon areasin 1990, many Higaunon evacuees went to Tatay Malindahay69