New Rice Varieties Destroying Native Farming Practices

www.bulatlat.com

Ina Endena is concerned at the impact of the new rice varieties on Agawa community life. Since the introduction of the biit, the synchronized planting season has been inexistent. During a community holiday for example, the farmers usually break the ubaya or community taboo just to tend their fields for the application of needed fertilizers or pesticides.

BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

I've seen her many times in different occasions involving grassroots organizations – in Mountain Province or in any part of Cordillera and elsewhere. In most of these activities where I had seen her, human rights issues were the main topics in the discussions. She comes from a place that had often been militarized and as a consequence, human rights violations were usually reported. 

On the day before the celebration of our paper’s fourth anniversary as a weekly and 17th as a news dispatch, Baket Endena – a leader of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) in her native Mountain Province as well as the Innabuyog-GABRIELA – came with a pizza to share with the Nordis staff, who were then busy preparing for the occasion. 

This time, my conversation with Ina Endena, as most fondly call her, is focused on agricultural practices in their village in Agawa, Besao in Mountain Province.  

I am touched at how she laments that new rice varieties are slowly displacing indigenous varieties. She is saddened at the thought that her community practices are slowly disintegrating due to the introduction of these new varieties into the Cordillera interior. 

At first, it is hard to comprehend how the entry of the new varieties has weakened indigenous practices. But she explained with such clarity that I realized that we have to respond to an urgent call from this 82-year-old elder who is still active in grassroots organizing.  

Ina Endena described the role of the dap-ay, an indigenous socio-political system where elders gather and talk about the beginning of the agricultural activities. 

In end-September, the elders declare three days as ubaya or community holidays. They perform a ritual, observe signs, and if all the indications appear good then they start the rice seedbed preparation in the padog (rice field specifically designated for that purpose). The ubaya also starts the land preparation. Work is done simultaneously in all rice fields.  The community residents do the preparation, planting and harvesting in synchrony with the environment. A tradition of thanksgiving is also performed after every harvest.  

Outside influences, she says, contribute to the weakening of their indigenous practices. She observed this in what is happening to their indigenous rice varieties called the bayag (literally, a long period of time). These are slowly being set aside, she says. 

These varieties include the tupeng, ginolot, yangaw (sticky rice). She observed that those varieties already lost are the sabsaba, kinison and matiko.

These old varieties are being replaced by taiwan, walay (sticky rice) and others called biit (short) as these may be planted twice a year.

She admits that it takes a longer wait to harvest the bayag variety, but she prefers it to the introduced biit because these are raised with just natural fertilizers like sunflower leaves, and a local variety of grasses, among others. She pointed out the biit, though planted twice in a year, need more commercial inputs like fertilizers and pesticides. She observed that these inputs are not only expensive but makes the land barren and therefore, dependent on these agro-chemicals.

Ina Endena is concerned at the impact of the new rice varieties on Agawa community life. She observes that since the introduction of the biit, the synchronized planting season has been inexistent. In the declaration of a community holiday for example, the farmers usually break the ubaya or community taboo just to tend their fields for the application of needed fertilizers or pesticides.

She also observes that indigenous agricultural practices are environment-friendly. 

Before our interaction ended with lots of lemon grass tea and brewed coffee that washed the pizza down our throats, I felt the need to heed her recommendations to adopt indigenous systems. After all, these practices have been proven to be cost-effective and environment-friendly by indigenous communities like Agawa in Mountain Province. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

One year ago, she was carried by strong water current inside the Sumaging Cave of Sagada, Mountain Province  http://www.interaksyon.com/article/68931/search-continues-for-woman-trapped-in-cave-but-all-other-tourists-rescued

Search continues for woman trapped in cave, but all other tourists rescued

By: Arthur L. Allad-iw/Northern Dispatch
August 19, 2013 7:32 PM

Scenic Sagada in Northern Luzon, seen in file photo. Thirty tourists were rescued from Sumaging cave in the province, after monsoon rains caused a flash flood inside the popular cave Sunday.

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

BAGUIO CITY – All but one of 31 people trapped inside the Sumaging Cave of Sagada, Mountain Province at the height of heavy rains and flashfloods Sunday have been rescued, local officials said.

Thirty people, 22 of them foreign and local tourists, were rescued in two batches late Sunday afternoon and evening inside the cave where they were trapped as water during monsoon-induced heavy rains swamped the place on Sunday, August 18.

The lone missing member of the cave tour group, a 49-year-old woman from Pangasinan who was swept away by flashfloods, is the subject of a massive search and rescue involving 100 volunteers.

Local officials of Sagada said 13 Japanese nationals with their two Filipino teachers were rescued by volunteers at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The five local tourists and eight local guides were rescued at 9:30 p.m. that same day.

Local tourist Rodolfo Bendola Jr. from Quezon City, was rescued at 11:40 p.m.  Sunday and told volunteers that his companion, Irene Gonzalez Manaois from Dagupan City, Pangasinan, was taken by rampaging currents that flooded the cave. Bendola was brought to the St. Theodore’s Hospital in Sagada where he was declared safe, but a search for Manaois turned up empty until posting time.

Sagada Mayor Eduardo Latawan Jr. led local officials and volunteers in the rescue of those trapped inside the Sumaging cave, a favorite of tourists.

It was learned that strong rains caused the flashflood inside the cave after 11 a.m. Sunday. Robert Pangod, secretary of Mayor Latawan, said in a phone interview that those who went to the cave earlier came out safe at 11a.m..

Rescuers used ropes to reach the rest of the trapped victims, who were spotted through the petromax light they were using, Pangod said.

Volunteers were forced to end the search for Manaois at 2 a.m. Monday as waters continued to rise and the current became stronger. They resumed work at 7 a.m., added Pangod.

The PNP and the Municipal Rescue Team identified the Japanese tourists, all residing in Pampanga, as Atsushi  Ito, Yoshitaka Onoe, Saika Furukawa, Sakuda Hikaru, Mutsimi Sato, Koichi Sato, Takuto Horita, Ayumi Shimamura, Keitaro Yuda, Sayori Shirai, Yuka Morita, Yuka Nakamura, and Naomi Yusakawa.

Their teachers from Pampanga were identified as Nemoza Magsino and Jahnina Pamintuan.

Aside from Bendola, the local tourists are Mark Joseph Delos Santos of Pasig City, Jeffrey Peejay Gunday Alex of Makati, Oliver Dela Cruz Alejandro of Taguig City, May Turisa Palatao of Manila, Vilma Forayong Pusao and Aiza Saliwan Lifano both of Natonin, Mountain Province.

The tourist guides from Sagada are Andrew Cauten Bagni, J-Ford Pangko Calpi, Jet Balonglong Kollin, Laurel Padalla Royo, James Boyoten Luken, Patrick Rigonan and Lexbur Balonglong Kollin.

Sagada folk perturbed by pre-nuptial photo-op in ancient burial ground

By: Arthur L. Allad-iw, InterAksyon.com
July 31, 2015 7:18 PM

Detail from one of the subject pre-nuptial photographs as reposted by user @Frank Cimatu on his Facebook page. Used with permission from Frank Cimatu.

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

SAGADA, Mountain Province - Local officials and villagers here condemned the pre-nuptial pictorial of a couple that took place inside Lumiang Cave, an act considered as a desecration of their sacred burial ground where their ancestors' remains have been laid to eternal rest.

While Lumiang Cave is open for visits by tourists, the area is only for them to see and appreciate the cultural heritage of the indigenous people, but not for purposes or acts deemed unacceptable, and which disturb the peace of the spirits of their ancestors buried there.

The town has many burials caves, part of the traditional way of life of the indigenous Kan-kaney tribes in the area. However, only a few caves are open for tourists as these grounds are considered sacred.

Due to what has been described as an act of desecration, Mayor Eduardo Latawan Jr. and the Office of the Municipal Tourism Officer are to bring the issue to the attention of the Sangguniang Bayan.

"A legislative inquiry must be carried out to give clear answer for the lapses that happened in Lumiang Cave. Through this inquiry, we will know who were the ones who participated in the pre-nuptial picture taking, and what actions may be taken against them," the mayor said.

He pointed out however that the inquiry will be primarily for the purpose of coming up with municipal legislation that would govern the protection and prevent acts of desecration in the heritage and tourist areas of Sagada.

For his part, Vice Mayor Benjamin Capuyan said that the local government officials will tackle the urgent issue in their Sangguniang Bayan meeting on Monday next week.

He is supportive about coming up with an ordinance for the protection of the Sagada heritage and tourists' attractions.

Capuyan added that he is open to allow the participation of various stakeholders in coming up with a relevant ordinance in this tourist-frequented highland town.

Lumiang Cave. Photo by Robert Pangod 

Robert Pangod, the tourism officer, revealed that there are rules and guidelines for the protection of these areas, though not necessarily instituted as ordinances.

"These rules are used for the guidance of the tourist guides and visitors for their strict observance. But it is high time that these should be included in an ordinance," he said.

As standard operation procedure, tourists are to register at the tourism center before they are assigned accredited guides.

From interviews, it appeared that the guide of the Ruffa and Mike Photography agency allegedly came from George Inn in this town. The guide accompanied the photography party to Lumiang Cave, where the photographer took the pictures of the couple the Lumiang Cave among the ancient wooden coffins as background.

When the photographs were posted on social media, it was unavoidable that some of the villagers saw the images.

A concerned villager, Mia F. Longid, shared some of them on her Facebook page, eliciting comments and observations that tended to criticize the pictorial as an act of desecration of the Sagada indigenous culture.

"Another rape of our Sagada culture," pointed out Baguio-based Sagadian Braile Van Reyes. "We lost a lot, can we afford more losses?"

Another sacred ground: the hanging coffins in Sagada, Mountain Province. Photo Arthur L. Allad-iw 

While the photographer named Mike is said to have apologized on Facebook and explained that they did not intend to undermine and desecrate the cultural value of Lumiang Cave, they also allegedly indicated that they will withdrew from social media the pre-nuptial pictures that have been called into question.

But the village elders still want to discuss the repercussions of this incident act in the community, in their dap-ay, indigenous socio-political institution.

Rituals could be performed to cleanse the act, which is at least the equivalent of a nightmare, an elder explained.

As this town considers the burial grounds as sacred, the desecration of Lumiang could lead to stricter rules for the protection of ancient burial grounds and tourist attractions.

At least one specimen of the controversial pre-nuptial photos may be seen by following this link.

Love knows no disabilities

patnugutan July 26, 2015 Featured, international, people

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — They belong to different nationalities. They believed fate had brought them together. And despite their physical handicaps love blossomed to establish their family, and together, they vowed to serve fellow persons with disabilities, the poor and needy.

LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES. Mary and David. Photo by Arthur L. Allad-iw

Battihun Mary Khongmawloh, or Mary, 34 years old, is from the Khasi Tribe of North East India, Meghalaya Province, and her husband, David Sexton, 31, is an American. They are now expecting their first baby, and are very happy for what they both see as their “new “gift”.
Both persons with disability (PWD) who chose a life to serve others. Mary was afflicted by polio before she reached a year old, while David has been completely blind. Their story may sound like a fairy tale; but it actually is a story of a couple committed and struggling to help the poor and needy especially fellow PWDs in Meghalaya.

During a break at a Bangkok conference for PWDs in the Asia-Pacific region, this writer grabbed the opportunity to interview the couple who came to participate together.

Their story begun when they met in 2010 in Meghalaya province. She was then a working student at the Bethany Society, a private welfare institution taking up social work. David had an internship also in that same institution. Proximity helped and they easily became friends. In 2011, David was employed as an Information Technology (IT) manager in South India. The physical distance did not stop them from keeping in touch and nurture their friendship.

After their wedding they decided to go back to Mary’s village where they established programs on literacy, women’s services, and support services for PWDs. In the literacy program, they gave classes for children in their home and adopted programs that would academically supplement the children’s learning in the local schools. Medical missions were conducted particularly for women. Women in Mary’s tribe, like in many societies today, are discriminated and oppressed because of their gender. This is most traceable to divorce practices and the frequent drinking by men.

“In the early period, we used our own money,” revealed Mary. Their established non-government organization (NGOs) has programs that include building their network, the school programs for children, Montessori school for young kids, and organic farming. They named their NGO Jingkieng Ksiar which literally means Golden Bridge for everyone.

The secret in their philanthropic work is their great love for each other. “It is our love that binds, inspires, and overcome problems we counter in our services,” explained Mary, who came from a poor family of eight children with a father who divorced her mother.

She said that in 2011, her village mates ridiculed her relationship with David, as both are disabled; and that David was white and therefore would be dominating. “We proved them wrong. Our disabilities served as the bond that pushed for our relationship and work to continue. We understand each other as both of us suffer from disabilities,” she added.

Aside from our commitment for social services, David is a good husband. Despite being blind, he helps in household chores, like cooking and washing, among others, added Mary.

They are not taking any chances and are preparing everything for their expected child. They try to save money and even got an educational plan for their child.

In the Bangkok conference, Mary said she gained a higher level of self-confidence and a deeper understanding of the rights and welfare of PWDs, including indigenous persons with disabilities. Inspired by PWDs being organized regionally and worldwide, she readies herself, and her organization – All Meghalaya Association of Person with Disabilities (AMAPD) for greater advocacy.

“It is helpful to meet PWDs in the Asia-Pacific region; we are different people with different experiences but not different from mine or from ours in India,” and she committed for the advocacy of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). # nordis.net

Advocate's Overview: The women from Kiltepan

patnugutan July 5, 2015 columns, Cordillera, Featured, opinion

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

It was a Wednesday morning in June. The amam-a (or elders) were gathered in dap-ay Kilong. As part of their traditional systems, they discussed the problem that threatened Tekeng, their ‘aayagan’ or spiritual ground located on a mountain peak that overlooks eastern Sagada’s four villages: Kilong, Tetep-an Sur, Tetep-an Norte, and Antadao, popularly referred to collectively as Kiltepan.

Their discussions were very substantial on the indigenous usage of Tekeng as their spiritual grounds and how the state system was used by a politician and his heirs to transfer his rights to a land-claim or “rights” to a millionaire-buyer, who wanted to transform the area into a center of tourism. But the elders stood pat and asserted their since-time-immemorial right over the area as part of the community’s sacred grounds. They traced the land’s history, and pointed out the maneuverings done by the said politician who is not from their villages.

This historic discussion would be utilized by the professionals from the said villages to contest the move to privatize the area in favor of the millionaire and as facilitated by the very same government agency that boasted to champion the rights of indigenous peoples.

Equally historic in the event was the role of our women – both the elders and the younger ones. I could count with my fingers elder women who joined the discussion. It showed that the decision making was not only for men, and like any other social concerns besetting the community, they participate in the dap-ay — our indigenous socio-political institution–where each family belongs to, although represented by their male adults from their families.

And concretely in the case of Tekeng as the aayagan or spiritual ground, the women, particularly grandparents, are usually the people performing rituals or prayers in relation to a member of a family who is sick or beset by any problem. “That is our hospital in the olden days as our ancestors ran in the area for rituals that would cure illness encountered by family members and even the community as a whole,” pointed elder Pal-ang Agetyeng.

But what made me realize and appreciate the role of the younger women was they insured there was food for all the participants during that occasion. From the various dumap-ay (members of the dap-ay) in the said villages, there were more or less 60 elders who participated in the gathering.

While the discussions were going on, the younger women prepared and cooked the pig butchered by the younger male members of dap-ay Kilong. And the pork was served, with indigenous rice, for our lunch which was right on time as the discussions were wrapped up by Lakay Pelked Olowan.

The role of elder and younger women are somewhat delineated in social occasions. The elder women had a say in decisions as they gained wisdom from their existence in their village, in fact even the performance of ritual as mandated by their family’s existence. The younger women performed other tasks like cooking, as they too had developed such “mastery” and are more capable of accomplishing such kind of tasks.

The women’s role therefore is an integral part of any collective occasion in our community life ways as members of the Kiltepan villages. And in the community struggle for their rights over the Tekeng spiritual ground, the women’s role will contribute in the outcome of the struggle. # nordis.net

Indigenous persons with disabilities seek improved conditions in Asia-Pacific

By: Arthur L. Allad-iw, InterAksyon.com
June 30, 2015 8:50 PM

Gathering of indigenous persons with disabilities in Bangkok. Photographed by Arthur Allad-iw, InterAksyon.com

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

BANGKOK, Thailand – Indigenous persons with disabilities (IPWDs) from various organizations in 12 countries of the Asia-Pacific region urged states in the region to improve their grim conditions by ratifying and implementing the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

In the Bangkok declaration, the conference participants said the ratification and implementation of two UN instruments would uplift their conditions as PWDS, indigenous peoples, and as members of the societies who are poor and marginalized.

Mr. Chol O. Han, an officer of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), said that there are an estimated 650 million PWDs in the Asia-Pacific, corresponding to about two-thirds of the world's PWDs.

UNESCAP is the regional development arm of the UN in the region.

As the PWDs are most exposed to discrimination and oppression in every society, UNESCAP adopted the Incheon Strategy, a program that would "make right real" for persons with disabilities in the region, Chol explained.

The Strategy targets 10 goals for PWDs in the region:
Reduce poverty and enhance work and employment prospect
Promote participation in political processes and decision making
Enhance access to physical environment, public transportation, knowledge, information and communication
Strengthen social protection
Expand early intervention and education of children with disabilities
Ensure gender equality and women's empowerment
Ensure disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction and management
Improve the reliability and comparability of disability data
Accelerate the ratification and implementation of the CRPD and the harmonization of national legislation with the convention
Advance subregional, regional and interregional cooperation.

The Incheon Strategy serves as UNESCAP targets for the decades of PWDS in the Asia – Pacific, 2013-2022, Chol added.

The participants also pushed in their declaration the Asia-Pacific states' ratification of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). They said that exploitation by states of their ancestral land, resources, and culture marginalized them more as human being as state-backed corporate projects usually deny them their indigenous life ways.

BURIAL SHROUD IN THE MAIL | Ifugao NGO workers receive death threats

By: Arthur L. Allad-iw, Northern Dispatch (special to InterAksyon.com)
May 12, 2015 8:30 AM

A forum on indigenous people's rights between the local government of Lamut, Ifugao and the Ifugao Peasant Movement. (photo by Arthur L. Allad-iw, Northern Dispatch)

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

BAGUIO CITY -- Five workers of a nongovernmental organization in Ifugao province have asked police to investigate death threats they have received and to identify those responsible.

Human rights advocates in the Cordillera condemned the threats against Brandon Lee, Connie Hapulon, Claudine Panayo, Fernando Alikes Jr. and Billy Carty of the Ifugao Peasant Movement, saying these were part of heightening attacks on activists and development workers in Ifugao.

In the letter-complaint they submitted recently to the Lagawe, Ifugao police, the NGO workers said they all received brown manila envelopes containing a photo of a woven Ifugao blanket used to shroud the dead and what they described as the “dire” caption: “Gray May, June Gloom, No Sky July.”

In their complaint, they said the rectangular cloth, which was placed on the ground, approximated the dimensions of a grave.

Lee, Panayo and Carty were among the IPM organizers, community leaders and officials who were earlier accused of supporting the New People’s Army in an apparent smear campaign through social media.

Cordillera People’s Alliance secretary general Abigail Anongos slammed what she called the continuing vilification of community leaders and organizers of the IPM, the CPA’s provincial affiliate in Ifugao.

The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, in an alert, said political vilification is a violation of people’s basic right to freely express their political beliefs and join organizations.

“We are alarmed and convinced that the intensity of threats and political vilifications are serious warnings of actual arrest, detention and graver forms of human rights violations,” CHRA's alert read, as they pointed out that two NGO workers were also incarcerated in Ifugao on fabricated cases.

Reached for comment, Ifugao police director John Colino said: “We are still investigating those who are behind this cowardly act in coordination with IPM.”

While he said there have been no indications of impending physical harm against the IPM workers, Colino acknowledged that the picture of the blanket was very offensive to Ifugao custom.

A copy of the complaint was also furnished Governor Dennis Habawel, Representative Teddy Baguilat and lawyer Harold Kub-aron of the Commission on Human Rights.