English - Balay Mindanaw

Part 2 - Four Datus: Stories of the Higaunon Lifeof oil). Bongkatol ha bulawan means that one should have agolden heart, and like the oil, it should not fade. These rulescall for honesty, of being compassionate and generous. TatayMalindahay further commented that in the past, there wereno Higaunon traitors and liars because they were afraid ofthe laws.As a palaghusay or mediator, Tatay Malindahay callshimself as dangan-dangan, or a datu who is courageous andbrave in settling serious and complicated types of conflicts.“There are two types of datus. There is the datu who mediatesminor conflicts, while the other datu, known for his braveryand good deeds, is called a dangan-dangan.”A husay should be orderly, and it should not cause anotherproblem. In settling minor conflicts, especially when partieswould come face to face with each other, a decorum shouldbe observed. Tatay Malindahay presented how order couldbe maintained in mediation. “I’d tell them it is our policy thatwhen someone is speaking, nobody else should speak. WhenI ask somebody to speak, he alone should speak. Let himfinish first. No pointing fingers, no shouting, no harsh words,because the purpose of the meeting is not to fight but to solveproblems.”Migration Into Higaunon LandsKalipay in Gingoog City where Tatay Malindahay residesused to be thickly forested, and there were but a handful ofHigaunons living in the place in the 1960s. When the AnakanLumber Company’s (ALCO) logging operation reached thisplace in the 1980s, Mayor Arturo Lugod of Gingoog requestedthe Higaunons to vacate the place to give way to the loggingcompany.The Higaunons first encountered aggression in 1983 whenthe concession guards of ALCO demolished the school building71