A Bedtime Story

The following is a remarkable but true story. In 1997 the Philippine parlement voted a law that gave indigenous people the opportunity to become the official owners of their ancestral lands (the Indigenous People's Rights Act). The Bagobo-Tagabawa are one of the indigenous groups who went through the whole procedure of documenting their history, genealogy and cultural practices to prove that they are the rightful owners of their ancestral domain (Mount Apo) and that their ancestral lands are essential to the survival of their culture. Kapwa helped the Bagobo with getting all of the documents together and preparing the application to be submitted to the NCIP (National Council on Indigenous People). There was one problem, however. According to the belief of the Bagobo, you will die if you reveal the history of your tribe. Apo Amman Anga, the official keeper of the Bagobo oral history, made a brave but fatal decision. Old and sick at heart he could feel that his time had come. To help his tribe obtain the ancestral domain title and secure its ownership of Mount Apo, he walked the long way to Tudaya to reveal the whole history of the Bagobo-Tagabawa. Six hours later he was dead...

Tuba

There's a first time for everything, and this week was the first time for me to taste coconut wine (or 'tuba'). Tuba is the sap of an unopened coconut that is made to trickle into bamboo containers hanging in the treetops. Tuba has a sweet taste and feels a bit like honey to your tongue. In my opinion, it doesn't really have a very refined taste, but Filipino men are usually fond of it. If the tuba is left to ferment for a longer time, it becomes a very strong liquor. What is most spectacular about tuba, though, is the way it is collected. The man in the picture is Alim, a resident of Tudaya who has a few coconut trees in his garden and who was so kind to let us taste some of his tuba. Needless to say, it was a long evening...

A Week in Tudaya

So this is what it's all about: Mount Apo. This week I spent five days in the house of 'datu' (chieftain) Rudy Agtag at the foot of Apo Sandawa, the sacred mountain of the Bagobo-Tagabawa. The Bagobo-Tagabawa are the indigenous people of Mount Apo and were granted an ancestral domain title to the area which makes them the owners of their ancestral ground.

Datu Agtag is the chieftain of barangay Tudaya, a mythic place. According to the myth of origin of the Bagobo-Tagabawa, the very first datu was captured by an eagle and carried to the spring of the Tudaya falls. I visited the falls on Tuesday and the place is truly remarkable. The water drops some 100 metres into the Sibulan river. When the wind is strong, a fog of waterdrops shrouds the place in mystery.

But Tudaya is also a place of potential conflict and friction as 'tradition' and 'modernity' meet right at the foot of the Tudaya falls. Last year a Philippine energy company started the construction of two hydro-electric power plants that will be tapping water from the falls and the Sibulan river to generate electricity for southern Mindanao. Opinions differ as to whether this project will bring 'development' to the area. Government officials, indigenous peoples' rights activists, NGO's and environmentalists all claim their 'truth', often over the heads of the people who are truly affected by the project. Datu Apo Adoc Purok, however, made a very personal and symbolically charged statement. This 107-year old datu walked all the way to the falls - a tough hike - to perform a ritual to protest against the building of the plant. I got the chance to meet Apo Adoc at the Barangay Tribal Council on Wednesday. He is the man sitting to my left in the picture below. I have no fixed opinion about the whole thing as there are so many factors and actors involved. But I am learning every day...

Gwapo kaayo ang mga bulak, di ba?

Flash Forward

While the panshy shell reminded me of things past, last week was also a time to look ahead for things to come. On Friday I finished my Cebuano course together with 10 of my classmates. By a funny twist of faith Friday was also my birthday, so as a result I had a double celebration and half a night’s sleep :). I was treated to a surprise party by my classmates, my host family and some of my new friends here.

I kinda felt like being on a crossroad in my life as so many things are changing. Today is Saturday and I’ve been working at my NGO for one week now. In between the many meetings – all of them in Cebuano - I am working my way through a large pile of documentation on the Mount Apo region, indigenous peoples’ rights, agroforestry plans and local government structures. Next week I will be spending my first week ‘on the field’ to observe some of the projects of Kapwa in the ‘bukid’. My colleague Maymay already warned me that it will be ‘tugnaw kaayo’ (very cold) there. Only 25 degrees, imagine that! I also moved to a new place again as travelling back and forth from Dona Asuncion to the office in Matina is quite tiring. My new address is: Dr. 9, Santos Land Compound, Duterte Street, Davao City. Oh, before I forget, it seems as though there is no end to the coincidences. This week is the 29^th anniversary of Kapwa (July 3) ánd three people that are very close to me are also celebrating their birthday. In order of appearance, happy birthday to Nele (July 3), Anneleen (July 4) and Lieven (July 5).

Celebrating Kapwa's birthday at Eden Park.

Flashback

Sometimes the past and the present blend into a single experience that is at once new and yet strangely familiar. We call such moments flashbacks. While walking on a thin strip of sand on vanishing island last week I experienced a flashback that took me way back to South Africa. I picked up a shell whose features I immediately recognised: spotlessly white with a five-leafed flower printed on the upside. In South Africa these shells are called ‘panshy shells’ and they are the subject of many a local myth. Because they are rare and very breakable few people have the privilege of owning one – only true locals are supposed to have one. Before I left South Africa I got one as a present from a special friend and I’ve been keeping it wrapped in soft paper ever since. It was strange to see the flower-shaped print again in this entirely different part of the world. The shell was not quite the same as it was a lot more solid and a lot less rare than the panshy shell, but the flower is as puzzingly beautiful as I remember those in South Africa to be.