JASON MENALING ROLDAN SAGULA EMILY NAPONGAHAN MARGIE LURANZA JOSEPH CABALE MARILOU GARCIA Children of Bendum

ason, Roldan, Emily, Margie, Joseph and Marilou are Jelementary students at the Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center (APC)1 that runs a school in Sitio Bendum in the uplands of Bukidnon, . Th e APC is recognized by the Philippine Department of Education as the fi rst formal Indigenous Peoples’ school allowed to operate an elementary program using a mother tongue-based curriculum. Th e community derives its identity from the , and so along with their neighboring communities is known as Pulangiyën. Th e children are part of the school’s 150 students who, with their parents, place great value on education and the opportunities to improve their lives beyond what the parents experienced. While this is no diff erent from other Filipino parents’ aspirations for their children, Bendum’s children are mostly lumad2 and live in the forest fringes, in an area of great insecurity for food, basic services, peace, and marginalized from the socio-economic and political centers.

Th e forests around Bendum provide food, water and some medicine, while also being the location for some livelihood activities and central to their rituals and ancestral identity; the

forests hold a central place as well in the children’s education. Seeking a way forward

eat. Sometimes when I don’t have many chores, toI get think what I to something have will we after day the that sure make to corn the prepare and harvest, tend, and farm, the in help to have I home get I when theneveryday, class to go “I day. following the table the on the city. Roldan helps his parents to make sure that havethey’ll food Roldan’sinisn’tday school to go likethatotherthewhochildren of Roldan now the assistant principal. school is and culture Pulangiyën the on subjects teaches and APC the of Pulangiyën in also Bendum and is a relativeMaura education. of Jason. in She is the degree firstgraduate BS her finishing after Bendum to returned who Maura, APC, the in teacher a by inspired is Jason do whatever want. they tribe’sBendum his is andto outsidersfor not simplygo andto place Jason admits he doesn’t know much about mining but he knows that youhave Do What youdohere? will apermit?” What doyouneed? you? are “Who asked and visitors the to up went paper, and pen a theand decide next course of action. Jason, with other kids, grabbed whatorganize to council tribal the didn’tfor He wait do. people to wanted they telling without and permission asking without year last Bendum to up went explorers mining when remembers Jason care oftheir situation. Ittoact. need difficult, but be they might take elders the let just not and something, do can and to need they community,the of youth the as that recognizes and leader tribal or everyday, it has a relationship to the forest.” Jason is a son of the do I knowthatI everything Because case? thatthe forestif is theto happen will what wonder I and in come to wants mining say They forest. the at looking door, our by sitting myself find it’searly,I still our horse, then help our feed and pigs chickens. Sometimes, because I wake“When up in the morning before I to going helpschool, tend Jason datu

in her everyday activities and her chores at the dormitory. Margie dormitory. the at chores her and activities everyday her in Margie views learning whatbeyond she obtains from butschool, also play. Iread even when to read Iam alone.” to books. the library Igo don’t I that’s recess, priority.During and my study I me, affect it let another problem, I don’t think about that other problem first. I don’t to time I haveeven if before exam, the morenight duringstudy “The theholidays. has she so chores house many too her giving not by problems, so otherthat she can herstudy well. Her motheraside supports her putsas well She studies. her on is focus her exams, during thatsure makes and education her on importance great puts Emily are months the also harvest when can they help out in the family. which December, andOctober, August, in breaks school duringthe as their homes are far from thego back school. toThey their families Thetwogirls areAPC scholars and they stay at the school dormitory, Emily andMargie to themodel younger kids, and eventually help the community. a be well, study to Roldan remind also to They questions. who respond his of many teachers the APC’s of advice the seeks he Often, But we have to or doittogether elseourbe in efforts will vain.” lives. our of continuity the and forest the affect again will it because it about something do and well as reflect haveto enter,we tosay is I waterthedaily.drinkforesttheand weto Now mining saythat they that we really have to protect therealized trees I because well. it has as great treesimportance the of many so losing up ended we and well thanmoney. enough father as stopped, job But lost his when logging still a child, my father took part in activitieslogging and we had more Roldan, who is seen as one of the youth leaders, “Whenreflects, I was inabout life general.” think I too. schooling my and school the in fine be will everything that hope really I others. toexample good a as thatserve do can will

21 Forest Faces Seeking a way forward 22 Forest Faces Seeking a way forward than otherFilipinochildren. more much integrity, cultural their maintaining in and education their in significance greater a bear and forests lives the daily their in with relate simple they environment the children, and Lumad lives as But simple dreams. with children are They do somuch more.” limits. remindThey us to study first job, good as andwea can find ourknow must Wewe responsibility.but girlfriendshave big can a is marriage as yet marriage don’tabout wethink thatimportant is It kids. younger the to examples as serve to arecommunity, we that we are the youth, and wealthough are not yet part of the elder us remind They things. other with also but lessons our with only the class, but also about life in general. “Our teachers of are a big help in not lessons opennessabout problems their theto only the not is listening in outside teachers most and appreciates in he learnings What classroom. his on importance puts Joseph Joseph for cooking without cutting anything in the forest. Still, with the all fencing trees and fruit there wood enough will be cultivation. shifting traditional the of less is there and cultivation permanentcropunder coming is area the in land cultivation.the of most But for cleared again been have that lands the on gather fuelwood often they weekend the At homework. their do and study can else thateveryone so outhelping of importance the sees 28 cultures and41subgroups. andlanguages Filipino children. integrity,thanothermaintainingculturalmoretheir much in and with in their daily lives bear a greater significance in theireducation But as Lumad children, the forests and the environment they relate their culture. in They remaining are children while with simple opportunities lives and educational simple dreams. the on place they importance great the illustrate school, in activities daily their on These brief withinterviews the children ofBendum, while focused at can they apoint which see abovethe canopy. short valley the of view great a have They height. their above just only is and called moss ground of cover thick a withstuntedforest the lower. Near the top the children joke at how tall they have grown as hangs on the trees, the forest vegetation thins ” andcomes the “roof light. As they climb uphill through what they call mature(regenerated) forest and are dwarfed by its size and gloomy always hot and dry.” The children walk through the tall it, to not get like when weon tripsgo in the lowlands where we are whereknow we waterand of sunrise, “thereplenty before leaves is banana in up it roll and food cook they as laugh They start. rains hill just to the north where the clouds firstgather when the summer a day, the Agkumabay for Mt climb to off went group whole The school.”to being in high and my school projects. I am happy in the school and look forward assignments my with me help also they weekends, During valley. the down school high in already are friends my of “Most school. the at teaches also who brother, her and parents her of help the assignments,asks she school has she When Bendum.Sitio in lives Marilou is a Dumagat or migrant whostudies also atand the APC Marilou 2 1 Lumad is a generic termforLumad is ageneric Mindanao’s peoples indigenous andcomprising about For more information please visit http://apc.essc.org.ph. about APC, lagiit , where moss kagulangan saldab 23 Forest FacesSeeking A Way Forward GREGORIO HONTIVEROS Historian

n 2004, Greg Hontiveros fi nished writing a book “ of a ITh ousand Years,” where he documented Butuan’s history from pre- colonial times as an ancient trading port until the Commonwealth era and the outbreak of the Second World War:

“Butuan is an ancient trading port with historic trading links to many Asian kingdoms, and its role as a homeland of many ruling groups in Mindanao and Sulu archipelago, serves as a historic backdrop prior to the entry of Spanish colonial rule in the islands. Butuan was in full decline when the Spanish explorers came to our shores, its former glory at its zenith some 500 years back…Other Philippine trading centers like Sulu, Maguindanao, Cebu, and Manila gradually eclipsed Butuan towards the dawn of the Spanish colonial era…(Butuan reached its) apex as an ancient trading port around the 11th century, and the decline in the 13th century.”

While writing the book, Greg had the opportunity to understand the landscape transitions and transformations that took place. Greg is also an active participant in forest discussions in Butuan City, especially when he became a member of the Multistakeholder Forest Protection Committee, a DENR eff ort in the mid-1990s to broaden forest protection activities and the involvement of other stakeholders beyond the DENR.

During the heavy logging years, Butuan City thrived from the diff erent businesses that grew out of logging: the ports and shipping, sawmills, traders and dealers, tree farmers, wood processing. With a Timber

Forests and rivers of a thousand years License Agreement from the government, the Nasipit Lumber Company, ot f hs fmle ae o hr ayoe ee ter descendants. younger the for theiroption lucrative business a offering longer no even is Agusan anymore, here not are families these of most and anymore, much don’t talk they anymore; logging into not are who there realize aremanyand before theyearsto families back “Peoplelook not was much investment done by those the who did there logging.” historically that oldtimers, the especially know, people second, and logging from profited few a only thatknow people because first, dispassionate: more and before than now critical more are “People proudcan be of.” usual attitude. Nobody in Butuan somethingas they about talks logging is a thing of the past and would not benefit theplace very much, that’s the by the 1990s up until present, is not lost on the people of this engendered when Butuan.the anti-logging sentiment became more pervasive “Logging in Butuan, of logging this history andAccording the reputationto Greg, area. Agusan and NALCO developed this from the from this developed NALCO and material construction wood inexpensive country. and popular entire a the was “Lawanit” in industry construction the to lumber provided thatcompanieswell-known more the wood of one became NALCO, or lauan lauan that was endemic in the in endemic was that sense. Before, you could see truckloads of timber coming marketout large of the the forest. in anymore forestland the of destruction no is “There much before.”not as as are these but confiscations, about report the will radio then and newspaper even local but haul, big a the is there know WeSometimes there. anymore. still it is logging about much talk don’t we general, in “So but these are small.” making people alivingfew out oflogging, a still are There timber. the import actually operating still factories big The down. closed are these Now factories. still were there 1990s, the in gone, already are nowespecially that operationsthey see many of the clear big areas. From the 1970s the until that know people stage, this “At and theits areas around people these forests.” to happened what the forestsAgusan, that were destroyed with and that not benefit did many of situations these relate and forests of loss and who fear so much what they see and hear on on TV the impact of logging people of group growing a also is There different attitude. a thereis “So places.” manyotherManilawentandso to families, logging thesegenerations of

25 Forest Faces Forests and rivers of a thousand years 26 Forest Faces sawdust thatiswashed upontheriverbanks. of color the by species tree the distinguish can One city. the of south the in falcatta processing mainly Tungao to go where there to are still a number of sawmill operations, river a cross operators Logging lectures, I say that you cannot separate the history of Butuanof thefrom cannotthatseparatehistory thesayyou I lectures, most expensive waterway thein terms of is differentIt outlooks. In many of Butuan.my in areas many process to time the all water remain to has this waterway, as ordinary an not is ours waterways, of number a have still thatcountries other with Comparedway. another in it at look to them ask I in. fill and up clean to need a is there and flooded, time, long Butuan have people a negative view that a Butuan low andis very always For environment. the to paradigm relation a in minds need our we in themshift tell I and waterways the of charge takes that Board the Water is “There response. a as example an cites Greg past? the with connect this will growing movement how but a now is There landscape? the to relate it does how and today people the in alive it is of thehistory river and the wetlands around here. The question is, how In one sense, Butuan has a unique history, a documented archeological that in sector society ismore environmentally agood also sensitive.” and they know that. A positive result out of this situationfuture, no is thathas there Logging is anymore.future no has it know they because logging intowere they that say not do they and anymorebusiness the in not are them of lot A it. about much don’tdo but it, talk about much will politicians elected leaders, political some because pushing, some do “Weto havedone. be still can what in value much sees Greg outthese even ifthere are smuggled confiscations.” are occasional but there, still are hardwoods The large. called arevolumes the bay-angand , softwood native a use they and again, back is matchwood for plant processing The Oro. de Cagayan and Cebu in markets are “The of sawdust that’s up on washed the riverbanks.” thecolor by thetreespecies thesouth thecity. of distinguish canOne in falcatta processing mainly operations, sawmill of number a still are to go rivercross a to They many well. operators where Tungao as there so are There market. the into it smuggle to trucks small and jeepneys in timber the up cover They scale. smaller a on Now,is extractionthe boat old The are. we where from kilometers six east, the to is River, which first River, Masaois Agusan River, is one thesecond The thereand the Banzais Butuan. in waterways immediate parallel three are “There We are corporate now, we have expensive waterways.” geography. its environmentparticularly theitself, from Agusan, word treasures and symbolize the country’s basic unit of governance and the Filipinos as a maritime people. as Filipinos the and governance of unit basic country’s the symbolize and culturaltreasures national as 1987 in proclaimed and ago years 1,600 back dating relics boat 1 that youcannot find anywhere else in country.” this fishing, andboating riverfor the of potentialthe at look mayorto the is growing and the ordinances already exist, and we provide guidance to “I also do some pioneering in terms of this river (Masao River). Interest own flora.” original our search can we and well as at look can kids school It’ssomething internal delta. big a in living are thatwe recognize to understandis to arepromoting the preservationbest thesepeople of wayThe trees. for Wetrees. River, baolo theAgusan the along acacia thetrees, old other some and trees mother the weare identifies ,’that ’Flora project small developing, the as such efforts protection some are “There we stillMagallanes, have some ofthe rich mangroves.” original hectares. The problem peoplewas were cuttingdiscriminately. Here 5,000 in than more here, way the all fishponds many so have we that is there is still the original vegetation. I suppose one problem we face here “There arecertain sections herealong this stretchalong the river where thealong river. mangrove areas are still there, and there are sawmills processing gmelina old some forest, sago and The Butuan. in forest riverine River the of left is Agusan what the of shoreline the along tour brief a gave Greg were right!” Refers to the balanghai boat that was first uncovered in 1976, part of the pre-colonial the of part 1976, in uncovered first was that boat balanghaithe to Refers 1 was found in the Masao River. So many of the finds archeological

27 Forest Faces Forests and rivers of a thousand years