Rescuers stop search for Kibungan landslide victim, family to perform indigenous ritual

Kibungan, Benguet – The search for the missing body of Romy Balangen, one of the victims, carried away by a landslide during the height of Typhoon Maring on October 11, has been put to an end by his family to make way for the performance of a Cordilleran indigenous ritual done for the victim’s soul to be at peace.

Balangen is 25-years old, married and a resident of Sitio Todag, Tacadang, Kibungan.

“Wala di nahanapan yung isang victim kaya advice nung mismong family i-terminate na yung rescue operation para i-perform nila yung indigenous culture,” Mayor Cesar Molitas of Kibungan said in an interview Monday, October 18, 2021, adding that the ritual was already concluded.

Mayor Molitas related that, though uncertain with the name of the ritual, he said that it involves the butchering of a pig and a dog along with the offering of prayers to the ancestors.

In an article published by Inquirer.Net, it said the Kankanaey ritual in which people butcher pigs for souls of victims of tragedies is what they call “pammakan” while the ritual which requires sacrificing of a dog is called “daw-es” – ritual being performed to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. For Cordillerans, the dog is a symbol of death and protection.

As recalled, the incident that took place during the onslaught of Typhoon Maring resulted to the death of Romy Balagen’s brother who was identified as June Perez Balangen, 20 years old, a resident of Todag, Tacadang and was found at around 10 AM of October 12.

Those who helped in the search and rescue operations were barangay officials and residents in the area.

In a report relayed to the mayor, the two, along with their other sibling, were heading back home from the rice fields when part of the rice field eroded and carried June and Romy into the river, which was just located below. One of the siblings, as narrated, managed to get out of the erosion.

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