Bugkalot customary lawsin transition: A study on culture change

Cultural communities in the Philippines today live within a social system with formalized constitutional and legal order, yet many of their cultural, social, and political practices remain to be regulated by customary laws. Customary law refers to a body of unwritten rules, customs, and practices traditionally observed, accepted, and recognized by a social group. They are the product of the people's customs, traditions, and experiences which define the indigenous social order.

The Bugkalots of Nagtipunan, Quirinois one cultural community currently experiencing subtle changes as its socio-political system is affected by external influences. The indigenous worldviews, which their ancestors have long cherished and preserved for centuries, have become the hallmark of their cultural identity. However, this has been slowly modified by modern concepts, which affected the Bugkalot's social life ushering the present Bugkalot generation into a new epoch characterized by tension and consequent peripheral modification of their customary laws. Thus, this study sought to ascertain the sustaining and intervening factors responsible for the preservation and modification of Bugkalot customary laws.

The anthropological research methods such as fieldwork, interviews, and case studies were used in the study considering that it sought to document the sustaining and intervening factors responsible for the preservation and modification of Bugkalot customary laws. Focus Group Discussion was used to ensure comprehensive collection of the data. The data gathered in the study were qualitative in nature. Hence, content analysis of the responses was undertaken.

From the Bugkalots’ experience in Landingan, the old socio-political institutions that embody the Bugkalot way of life have been influenced by new concepts. But despite the ongoing pressures and the influence of the dominant society to the Bugkalots’ indigenous social order, the cultural traditions contained in the indigenous worldview are not completely lost. Present-day Bugkalots still carry with them the vestiges of the old social order and is a source of their identity which is strong enough to spark a cultural group. Whatever the current social and political environment today, the Bugkalots want to maintain the central features of the old social order that they themselves determined. Such is the basic essence of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA) which highlights the quest for self-determination of indigenous Filipino communities. Self-determination means that the Bugkalots can preserve their traditional social order amidst current and pressing forces. It further allows them to re-define, re-develop, and re-defend all aspects of their lives in order to restore their rich culture and continue to shape their own destiny as a people.