Killing for Grief

It’s the red month, and this blog is going to go along with what’s in. The red here, however, is not the romantic kind. It’s the bloody kind. In a series of posts, I’ll talk about violence among the Dulangan Manobo.

In Violence and Christianization in Manoboland, Fr. Rafael Tianero, OMI, discusses several causes of violence in Manobo culture. Among them are affront to masculinity, non-payment of debts, and rivalry for leadership. Such situations, of course, occur not just among the Manobo but also to other tribes, indigenous and otherwise. So what I find interesting, and a bit revolting, are the two instances that are unique to the Manobo, or at least not common among the “Christian” tribes here in Mindanao. According to the book, some Manobo also kill—a non-relative and not the offending party!—when they are grieving over the death of a loved one and when they cannot express their anger to a close kin.

Killing a non-kin while mourning is called les sefeling, which means “to let the victim accompany the buried dead.” Tianero describes this kind of killing as a “custom” among the Dulangan Manobo, though as far as I know, as someone who grew up in Kulaman Plateau, this is not a prevalent practice. Tianero himself cites only one informant who claims to have performed such an act, a man named Flak.

Flak said that when he was still married, his grandfather died. He loved the old man so much and the death caused him great pain. The Manobo often call having such a feeling egkadaet fedu, or losing one’s heart. So for Flak’s heart to return, he went out of the house and killed someone.

Flak’s mourning, however, wasn’t over yet. The Dulangan Manobo do not usually bury their dead after several days of wake, as Visayan settlers do. The Manobo, specifically those who have not been converted to Christianity, keep the coffin inside the house for three to five years before burying the dead. When Flak’s grandfather was interred, the young man set out again to kill someone.

The violent man claims to have killed more than twenty people, but not all of the murder happened while he was mourning. Flak had also been involved in at least one fangayaw, or raid against an enemy group.

More bloodcurdling discussion next week. I will cite another case wherein a Manobo killed a non-relative due to his repressed anger toward a relative. I will also write about some murders involving Manobo suspects and Visayan victims.