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The Kalanguya’s Territorial Management:
Panangipeptek ni Kalpuan ni Panbiyagan
Caring for our Source of Sustenance
Tebtebba Foundation
Copyright © TEBTEBBA FOUNDATION, 2010
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any means without the written permission
of the copyright owner and the publisher.
The views expressed by the writers do not necessarily
reflect those of the publisher.
Published by
Tebtebba Foundation
No. 1 Roman Ayson Road
2600 Baguio City
Philippines
Tel. +63 74 4447703 * Tel/Fax: +63 74 4439459
E-mail: tebtebba@tebtebba.org
Website: www.tebtebba.org
Author: Florence Daguitan
Editor: Ann Loreto Tamayo
Copy Editor: Raymond de Chavez
Cover Design, Lay-out and Production: Paul Michael Q. Nera
& Raymond de Chavez
Assistant: Marly Cariño
Cover: Kalanguyas of Tukucan, Tinoc delineating

community protected areas.
Photo credits: Andrie Dewy and Matthew Tauli
Printed in the Philippines
by Valley Printing Specialist
Baguio City, Philippines
ISBN: 978-971-0186-07-5
ii

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iii

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iv

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement ........................................................ vi
Acronyms ........................................................................ vii
Introduction .................................................................... 1
PART 1:
Engaging the Kalanguya in Piloting the
Ecosystems-Based Approach ........................................ 5
PART 2:
Traditional Knowledge on
Ecosystems-based Approach of the Kalanguya
of Tinoc ............................................................................ 31
PART 3:
Commercial Vegetable Production
and its Effects on Community Wellbeing:
The Case of Tukucan ..................................................... 75
PART 4:
Work in Progress ........................................................... 97
v

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The completion of this book would not have been possible with-
out the assistance of friends and colleagues who are dedicated
to the collective rights of indigenous peoples’ development. My
heartfelt gratitude to the following:
To all community members who participated in the participa-
tory research processes;
To the MRDC team and local researchers who assisted in data
gathering and took the extra mile to validate the data: Fraulin
Francisco, Reahlyn Aquino, Rose Malana, Rowena Likayan, Mi-
chael Billy Karte, Julie Mero, Fred Pait, Mathet Basia, Manong
Magno Dulawon, and members of the community-based-mon-
itoring systems team 2007-2009 for their permission to use their
data;
To the Philippine Association for Intercultural Development for
their dedication and provision of technical support during all
the community mapping processes;
To the enthusiastic and energetic Municipal Planning and De-
velopment Coordinator, Roland Guinsiman, for facilitating and
making possible the meeting of the different institutions of the
local government units from barangay to municipal level, gov-
ernment line agencies, and NGOs working in the municipality;
To Ifugao Representative Teodoro Baguilat and Tinoc Mu-
nicipal Mayor Lopez Pugong, who stood by and for the project
through the difficult times;
To my colleagues in Tebtebba and in the Project: Joji Cariño, Len
Regpala, Judy Cariño, Raymond de Chavez, Paul Michael Nera
and Marly Cariño.
May this documentation of how we care for our land inspire us
to do more for Mother Earth especially in this time of climate
crisis.
Haggiyo!




Florence Mayocyoc-Daguitan
vi

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Acronyms
ADSDPP
Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development


Protection Plan
CBD
Convention on Biological Diversity
CBMS
Community-Based Monitoring System
CPA
Cordillera Peoples Alliance
DENR
Department of Environment and


Natural Resources
DSWD
Department of Social Welfare


and Development
FPP
Forest Peoples Program
GATT
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
IEC

Information, Education and Campaign
IPRA
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
LGU
Local Government Unit
MA
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)
MARIS
Magat River Irrigation System
MASL
Meters Above Sea Level
MPDO
Municipal Planning and Development Office
MRDC
Montañosa Research and Development


Center
NCIP
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
NPA
New Peoples Army
NSCB
National Statistical Coordination Board
PAFID
Philippine Association for Intercultural


Development
PNP
Philippine National Police
RDD
Research and Documentation
UNDRIP
UN Declaration on the Rights of


Indigenous Peoples
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viii

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Introduction
It has taken millions of years of evolution for nature to cover
planet Earth with its amazing diversity of life forms and to
create the conditions necessary for the appearance and sur-
vival of humankind. But in a span of mere decades, man has
been able to reverse much of that.1
The importance of biological diversity for evolution and for
maintaining life sustaining systems of the biosphere cannot
be overstated enough. Thus in December 1993 the United
Nations, affirming that conservation of biological diversity is
a common concern of humankind, put into force the Conven-
tion on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Philippines was one
of the first signatories to this Convention.2
The CBD pursues three objectives: 1) conservation of bio-
logical diversity, 2) sustainable use of its components and 3)
equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization
of genetic resources.3 To realize these objectives, the CBD
Conference of the Parties in 1995 adopted the Ecosystems
Approach as the primary framework of action. This was also
to respond to declining biodiversity caused by human action
and unsustainable development strategies that adversely af-
fect the capacity of ecosystems to serve people’s wellbeing.
1

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The implementation of the ecosystems approach however
faces a major challenge in the midst of the current climate
crisis where ecological degradation is to a great extent the
result of “economic, social, and political inadequacies” but
also “a principal cause of poverty.”4 Yet at the same time this
approach is deemed a promising solution as “...reform and
development efforts will not achieve their aims if they are
not suffused with an ecological ethics that recognizes the
conjugal bond between humankind and the natural world
from which there can be no divorce.”5
Partnership
Recognizing this, Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’ Interna-
tional Centre for Policy Research and Education) in June
2008 forged a partnership with the Montañosa Research and
Development Center (MRDC) to pilot the implementation of
the CBD ecosystems approach in the Cordillera region in the
Philippines. The partnership brings together a developmen-
tal nongovernment organization that works directly with in-
digenous peoples’ organizations and one that works and has
gained recognition in promoting indigenous peoples’ rights
in the international arena.
Tebtebba was established in 1996 to address the need for
heightened advocacy to have the rights of indigenous peo-
ples recognized, respected and protected worldwide. It seeks
to promote a better understanding of the world’s indigenous
peoples, and their worldviews, issues and concerns. In this
effort, it strives to bring indigenous peoples together to take
the lead in policy advocacy and campaigns on all issues af-
fecting them.6
The MRDC on the other hand was born at the height of the
Cordillera indigenous peoples’ struggle against the Marcos
regime’s development aggression that threatened to displace
communities from their ancestral lands in favor of dams and
commercial logging. Now in its 32nd year, MRDC believes
that people’s constant interaction with their biophysical en-
2

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vironment imbues them with most of the scientific knowl-
edge and skills they need to propel their own development.
It places indigenous knowledge as the foundation for com-
munity development. Its task is to assist communities to
systematize and augment their indigenous knowledge and
traditional skills to meet the challenges posed by complex
changes. 7
The MRDC-Tebtebba partnership is referred to as “partner-
ship” in this report.
Content of Report
This report shares the results of the project, “Support for
Community Development within the Framework of Indige-
nous Peoples’ Rights and the Ecosystems Approach,” piloted
in Tinoc, Ifugao province.
The report has three sections. The first is an account of the
MRDC-Tebtebba’s experience in carrying out the project, par-
ticularly the 1) strategies and activities undertaken, 2) goals
achieved, and 3) lessons learned in the process of work.
The second part discusses the results of the research and
documentation, one of the strategies used in implement-
ing the ecosystems approach. It describes traditional land
use management in project sites, land tenure arrangements,
knowledge systems on customary sustainable resource use,
biodiversity conservation practices and traditional occupa-
tions.
The third section illustrates the case of a village, which em-
braced the market economy when it adopted commercial
vegetable production as a main source of livelihood. It high-
lights the importance of biodiversity and its link to people’s
wellbeing, the effects of changes on the community, and the
challenges they face in the context of changes.
3

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The last section presents the project outcomes and recom-
mendations.
The report’s scope is limited to the period of project com-
mencement in June 2008 to November 30, 2010. Initially set
to end in 2010, the project timeframe has been adjusted to
June 2011.
4

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PART 1
Engaging the Kalanguya in Piloting the
Ecosystems-Based Approach
Conceptual Framework
Since the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted
the ecosystems approach as a framework of action in 1995, it
has formulated concepts and theories including principles,
operational guidelines, priority focus of implementation
and requirements to make it an effective tool for indigenous
peoples.
These were in place when the Montañosa Research and De-
velopment Center and Tebtebba started the project, “Support
for Community Development within the Framework of In-
digenous Peoples Rights and the Ecosystems Approach” in
Tinoc, Ifugao province in the Cordillera region. Of the many
formulations, three key concepts guided the work: 1) defini-
tion of ecosystems approach; 2) relationship of ecosystems
services and wellbeing; and 3) the three dimensional per-
spectives of the ecosystems approach.
The CBD defines ecosystems approach as a strategy to man-
age land, water and living resources that promotes conserva-
tion and sustainable use in an equitable way, where sustain-
able livelihoods are practiced while maintaining the balance
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
5

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of the different parts of the environment, thereby ensuring
continued ecosystems services for people’s wellbeing.8
Earlier studies reveal that the ecosystems approach is part of
the traditional knowledge on customary sustainable use of the
indigenous peoples in the Cordillera region. Conklin (1980)
identified eight land use and management systems among
the Ifugao people. They distinguish hundreds of terrain vari-
ations relating not only to forms of combinations of rock, soil,
water and vegetation, but also to agronomic activity. Many
of these refer to special qualities, aspects, or components of
the environment rather than to contrasting general types.9
Among the Kalinga, Pagusara noted that “the `ili’ (ancestral
domain) is an integral vibrant whole that illustrates the man-
land-nature relationship manifesting six aspects of land use
in efficient and intense complementation.”10 She called the ili
“an admirable econiche.”
The CBD ecosystems approach calls for a paradigm shift:
• from top level to broad-based decision making that
includes communities and different stakeholders;
• from narrow commodity-based perspective of natu-
ral resources to a broad multi-objective perspective;
• from a management system that tries to eliminate
uncertainty to one that incorporates it;
• from political and administrative boundaries to
identifying and working with realistic ecological
boundaries;
• from reductionist toward a holistic perspective on
the world and its resources;
• from reactive to proactive management and iden-
tifying problems before they become huge and un-
workable.
Moreover the approach calls for long-term thinking to
supplement typical short-term views and to stop trying to
simplify resource management and admit and embrace its
complex and multifaceted nature. It also takes into account
a precautionary approach because knowledge of ecological
and social systems is incomplete.11
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
6

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In sum, the ecosystems approach addresses the following
concerns as shown in the following table:
Task 1: How do you involve all members of society in decisions
associated with the management of land, water and living re-
sources?
Task 2: How do you ensure management is decentralized to the
lowest appropriate level?
Task 3: How do you ensure the effects of management actions
(potential or actual) on adjacent and other ecosystems are taken
into account?
Task 4: How can the economic context be understood so that
market distortions that affect biological diversity are reduced,
incentives are developed to promote biodiversity and sustainable
use, and ecosystem costs and benefits are externalized?
Task 5: What measures could be used to conserve ecosystem
structure and functioning so as to maintain ecosystem services?
Task 6: What measures can be taken to ensure ecosystems are
managed within the limits of their functioning?
Task 7: What actions can be taken so that the problem(s) is (are)
addressed at the appropriate temporal and spatial scales?
Task 8: How can varying temporal scales and lag-effects be
taken into account when considering the sustainable use of eco-
systems?
Task 9: How can adaptive management be used to address the
problem(s) identified?
Task 10: How can an appropriate balance be sought between,
and integration of, conservation and use of biological diversity?
Task 11: How do you ensure all forms of relevant knowledge
including scientific, indigenous and local knowledge, innovations
and practices are included?
Task 12: What measures can be taken to facilitate the involve-
ment of all stakeholders including all sectors of society and sci-
entific discipline?
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
7

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PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
8

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Another key concept in the ecosystems approach is the influ-
ence of environmental services on wellbeing. The UN Mil-
lennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) describes ecosystems
services as supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural
services, all of which are linked in varying intensity to peo-
ple’s wellbeing. This assessment defines human wellbeing as
having “multiple constituents,” among these, basic material
for good life (adequate livelihood, access to goods, shelter),
health (clean air and water, strength, feeling well), good so-
cial relations (social cohesion, mutual respect, ability to help
others) and security (personal safety, secure resource access,
security from disaster), hence being able to have freedom of
choice and action. Figure 1 illustrates the association between
ecosystems services and wellbeing.
And finally, the ecosystems approach targets three dimen-
sional perspectives: 1) ecological perspective including con-
servation, sustainability and biodiversity; 2) institutional
perspective including laws, policies and resources; and (3)
community and socio-economic perspectives including
stakeholders, values and issues. This is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Target of Ecosystems Approach
TARGET OF THE
ECOLOGICAL
ECOSYSTEMS
PERSPECTIVE
APPROACH
•
Conservation
•
Sustainability
•
Biodiversity
SOCIO-ECONOMIC
INSTITUTIONAL
PERSPECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE
•
Stakeholders
•
Laws
•
Values
•
Policies
•
Issues
•
Resources
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
9

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Objectives of Project
From the above concepts and the knowledge on Cordillera
indigenous communities, Tebtebba and MRDC defined the
project’s objectives.
Overall, the project aimed to promote, innovate and adopt
indigenous natural resource management strategies and
practices to improve people’s wellbeing through ecosystems
development and good governance. Specifically, it intended
to:
1. Increase appreciation of indigenous knowledge sys-
tems and practices on natural resource management;
2. Promote development/innovations of traditional
livelihood occupations towards poverty alleviation;
3. Form/strengthen appropriate groups in the commu-
nity to spearhead planning, resource generation and
implementation of community development plans;
4. Enable communities to advocate and influence poli-
cies of concerned government bodies and develop-
ment agencies towards supporting the general objec-
tive of the project on the municipal and provincial
level; and
5. Maximize the project outcomes for national and in-
ternational policy advocacy.
Defining Strategies
To implement the project, four development strategies were
drawn up, but in many stages of the work the partnership
had to find the correct balance or combination of two or three
of these and at other times, to focus on just one. These strate-
gies are research and documentation, organizing and capac-
ity building, advocacy and networking, and socioeconomic
work.
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
10

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Research and Documentation
Believing in the adage “Start where the people are,” research
and documentation (RDD) played a major role in the project
inception and remained a major activity all throughout the
project duration. The participatory research approach was
adopted, engendering a process where both the researchers
and the community learned from each other to understand
not only what is but what ought to be done now and for the
future.13
The research aimed to:
1. Enable communities to identify and characterize the
land use and management of their territories, i.e.,
composition, structure and function with respect to:
a) human interaction, needs and values including
cultural aspects; b) conservation and management of
biodiversity; and c) environmental quality;
2. Identify changes on the above subject matter and
make their own assessment; and
3. Put forward recommendations pertinent to their as-
sessment.
Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, surveys,
workshops and secondary data were used to collect informa-
tion, and data interpretation was arrived at through group
and community discussions convened for the purpose.
Organizing and capacity building
Since 1986 peoples’ organizations have cropped up in the
Cordillera region as a requisite of projects undertaken by
government or nongovernment agencies. But more often
than not, these folded up when the project ended or died a
natural death after initial enthusiasm dissipated. Hence the
ecosystems pilot project prepared to form and/or strengthen
appropriate groups in the community to spearhead plan-
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
11

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ning, resource generation and implementation of community
development plans. This included organizational and lead-
ers development to advocate and influence policies towards
adoption of the ecosystems approach. In the latter stage,
capacity building included skills training on traditional tech-
nology/knowledge innovations and strengthening inter-
village cooperation for collective action on common issues
and concerns.
Advocacy and networking
As neoliberal policies favoring big business interests largely
influence development programs in the Philippines, the
project strongly promoted pro-people, pro-environment de-
velopment. This was done through advocacy and network-
ing among government development planners and service
providers and NGOs working in the area towards increased
appreciation of indigenous knowledge systems and practices
on sustainable resource management and of the ecosystems-
based approach.
The advocacy and networking component aimed to:
1. Facilitate information exchange and learning sessions
among and between community holders of tradi-
tional knowledge, authorities of customary law and
service providers/duty bearers towards formulating
development plans within the ecosystems approach;
2. Promote adoption of the ecosystems-based approach
at different levels of development planning and im-
plementation;
3. Draw lessons at appropriate times from the piloting
experience and transmit these to policy makers and
strengthen implementation of the ecosystems-based
approach, consistent with the rights and customary
resource management and sustainable use practices
of indigenous peoples.
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
12

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Socioeconomic work
While the project did not define any particular objective for
the socioeconomic component as this would be done by the
communities, it was clear that it would support initiatives
to enhance livelihoods linked to biodiversity and ecosystems
services.
Processes Undertaken
Area Selection
Anticipating some difficulties in actualizing the theories,
the partnership chose the northern Philippines’ Cordillera
Administrative Region to pilot the project due to some fa-
vorable conditions. The Cordillera forms a contiguous land
mass peopled mainly by indigenous peoples (comprising
more than 85% of total population) who more than once have
come together in regionwide unity to defend their lands,
rights and resources. Tebtebba and MRDC zeroed in on the
province of Ifugao, also for several considerations. Ifugao is
a UN-declared heritage site, forms the watershed of the 360-
mw Magat Dam, yet is part of the original Philippines Club
20 or the 20 poorest of 81 provinces in the country.
We decided on a nested ecosystems within a river system
on a scale that would enable us to 1) focus yet 2) be able to
show interrelations and 3) to target the broadest participa-
tion possible. As such, we identified five clustered barangays
(lowest political administrative unit) of Tinoc, Ifugao with a
perspective of involving the whole town and eventually the
two neighboring municipalities of Hungduan and Asipulo,
which also serve as major headwaters of the Magat River.
Magat River runs through almost all of Ifugao’s towns before
it drains into the Magat Dam that supplies the Magat River
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
13

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Irrigation System (MARIS). The MARIS services the neigh-
boring provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Apayao and
Isabela. Thus, while it focuses on five barangays, the project
has a provincial and inter-provincial scale.
The project was piloted in the five barangays of Ahin,
Binablayan, Tulludan, Wangwang and Tukucan, with the
first four constituting part of lower Tinoc; and the last, of up-
per Tinoc.
Introducing the Project
We first presented the project in courtesy calls to concerned
provincial and municipal offices, among these, the Gover-
nor’s Office, Tinoc Mayor’s Office, National Commission
on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and Social Action Concerns
of the Roman Catholic Lagawe-Bontoc Vicariate. Through
these meetings, we learned of their own work in Tinoc and
their expectations for future collaborative efforts. While these
agencies agreed on Tinoc’s great development potential given
its natural resources, they acknowledged big development
challenges. One of these is the difficulty and, admittedly for
some, failed efforts at preventing farm encroachment into
watersheds, rampant use of chemical pesticides, and atten-
dant dangers of soil erosion and river siltation.
The next step was getting the consent of target communities
to implement the project in their areas and linking with other
stakeholders. Since the project was a pro-active initiative of
the partnership, we had to introduce and explain it to the
different stakeholders, especially the pilot communities, and
to get to know the key people among the stakeholder groups.
This entailed 10 consultation meetings where we presented
the project: two in four pilot sites, an inter-barangay work-
shop involving all target areas, and a roundtable discussion
held by the Ifugao Governor with representatives of 12 ba-
rangays and government line agencies with local programs.
Two meetings were conducted at the community/barangay
level: the first, with barangay councils, other elected officials
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
14

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and recognized community leaders; and the second, with
household representatives in a general assembly. Except for
Binablayan, all pilot areas chose to convene a barangay as-
sembly to decide on approval of the project.
At the cluster workshop in lower Tinoc hosted by barangay
Wangwang, two of the four target barangays each sent 10
representatives as earlier agreed on, one sent seven and
Wangwang had 25 although only the official delegates signed
on as participants. The concept, objectives and targets of the
project were presented, after which each barangay delega-
tion discussed in a workshop the project’s relevance to their
respective areas as well as the trends and challenges they face
in managing their natural resources. The cluster workshop
also served as an opportunity by the partnership to share the
results of a series of climate change dialogues that had then
just been completed in Ifugao.
By September 2008 the project had concluded all preparatory
activities and received the consent of four of the five pilot ba-
rangays to implement the project. In Binablayan, the partner-
ship was unable to present the project to a barangay assembly
as agreed on with the barangay captain (officially elected ba-
rangay head) to let the people decide whether or not to enter
into partnership and implement the project. The assembly
was not held, and the barangay captain later decided they
would first observe the project. He raised apprehensions of
possible military repression as suffered by his community in
the past if they would once again work with NGOs. Despite
this we continued to invite them to our municipal forums,
seminars and workshops to which they sent representatives
and to involve them in the research activity. In October 2010,
Binablayan welcomed the project to their barangay.
Research and Documentation
After getting the communities’ consent, project implemen-
tation immediately started. The work proved to be much
harder than anticipated due to two reasons. First was a pre-
vailing “research fatigue” engendered by various researches
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
15

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implemented in Tinoc since 2004 including a) formulation of
an Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development Plan in 2006
and enhanced in mid-2008 to April 2009 under NCIP, b) situ-
ational assessment for a poverty alleviation program by the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in
2004 and again in 2008, and c) Community-based Monitoring
Systems under the Municipal Planning and Development
Office (MPDO).
Second was discrimination against traditional lifeways and
practice of rituals which, the informants said, some Chris-
tian fundamentalist groups have portrayed as works of Sa-
tan. In addition, commercial chemical-based farming and
the attendant culture that measures success in terms of cash
generation have relegated subsistence production systems as
“backward.” Hence, at first, most people did not like to be
informants on traditional knowledge.
An additional factor was the language barrier and some of
the project staff were new recruits. These conditions did not
favor the implementation of structured research methodolo-
gies and significantly slowed down the process. More often
than not, we received the following responses: “We already
provided such information to (that) office.” or “We no longer
practice our traditions, we are now Christians.”
Awareness raising on indigenous knowledge systems
These difficulties prompted a strategy shift from a more
focused research to more awareness raising on traditional
knowledge through formal and informal sharing sessions. In
numerous sessions, we emphasized the distinct features of
indigenous knowledge on sustainable use and resource con-
servation and the cultural practices that strengthen commu-
nity cohesion and solidarity. These also served as a venue to
learn and generate data on traditional resource management
practices, production systems and changes through time.
Data gathered from these sessions were substantiated in key
informant interviews.
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
16

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By the 10th month, although we had collected substantial in-
formation, more was needed. By this time the project decided
to use 3-D mapping as a tool for data gathering. Agreeing
to become training sites, barangays Ahin and Tukucan had
their territories mapped through on-the-job training with
technical support from the NGO, Philippine Association for
Intercultural Development (PAFID).
It took about 10 months of quality community integration
and sharing before we made a major breakthrough in the
research work. The community people realized that the part-
nership was not like other groups that criticize traditional
knowledge and beliefs but rather supports and works to pro-
mote indigenous ways of life.
Among the feedback we received were:
To revive our traditional knowledge is the best idea that I have
heard for a long time.


Florentina Dulnuan, President
Wangwang Women’s Association
“Most of the time, we have to do our rituals in secret for fear
of critics. But while we have to hide, no one in his right mind
would say that the prayer given in thanksgiving for winning
the barangay election is bad. It says: `Almighty One, grant
(name) the wisdom to rule, the courage to discern what is
right and what is wrong and act on these. Make him an in-
strument for the community to have a bountiful harvest and
for the people and animals to have good health.’”




Tessie Gayaho, Ahin
“While we have adopted Christian teachings, we feel inad-
equate in terms of discipline, unity and capacity to nurture
our farmlands and environment unlike our ancestors.”
James Tiway, Tukucan elder
As we gained the trust of the local people, the work hastened
as more of them became interested in the research work,
enabling us to do structured research, such as focus group
discussions, surveys and workshops.
It was in the following September that the project was able to
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
17

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gather substantial data showing the contrasting situations of
Ahin, a subsistence village, and Tukucan, which has adopted
commercial chemical-based vegetable production. The data
presented a sophisticated knowledge system of sustainable
land use management in Ahin, most of which has been passed
on to the present generation. On the other hand, Tukucan
since 1996 has gradually converted most of its agricultural
land to vegetable farms, which has caused deforestation.
Constructing a 3-D map is meticulous and hard work but
with PAFID’s expertise and community cooperation, the
three maps were finished with relative ease. Recording past
and present land uses was also not difficult, but deciding on
what needed to be done had to take a process. A comprehen-
sive land use plan has yet to be drawn up in Tinoc after elders
and other concerned groups deliberate on the guidelines.
The data were further validated through workshops and
group discussions in Ahin and Tukucan from November
2009 to February 2010. While information came from all five
target sites, focus was given to these two barangays, which
served as case study areas. Highlights of the findings were
then presented to the stakeholders at the First I-tinek Land
Summit held in January 2010.
The summit helped reveal data gaps, among which is a
climate change perspective. In June 2010, a climate change
component to enhance the research took off under three local
researchers.
Workshop
group on tra-
ditional land
use during the
First I-tinek
Land Summit,
January 13-
14, 2010.
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
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Networking and Advocacy
Our first attempt to build linkages was through the courtesy
calls made to government and private agencies. This was
also done for the purpose of transparency to give the military
no reason to raise suspicions on the project. In the second
networking effort, we wanted to avoid duplication of data
already collected from the pilot communities by different
line agencies, i.e., the Departments of Agriculture, Health,
Social Work and Development and the Municipal Planning
and Development Office (MPDO) did not have the informa-
tion or this was yet to be processed at the time of our visit.
Nonetheless, it afforded us a chance to discuss the research
work with department heads.
The first breakthrough in networking and advocacy came
when we presented to the Tinoc Municipal Council, an elect-
ed legislative body, the MPDO and line agency heads the re-
search results on Kalanguya traditional knowledge systems
and current threats to conservation and sustainable resource
use. Tukucan readily agreed for us to share the findings in
their area on the effects of converting lands to commercial
vegetable farms, showing the stark difference with the Ka-
languya’s rich traditional practice of keeping the ecological
balance of different land uses through customary law on re-
source use. This forum also sparked interest in 3-D mapping
for research and planning, which prompted the Municipal
Council and the partnership to collaborate on a municipal
3-D map and upscale land use and resource scanning to a
municipal level.
The Municipal Council allocated part of the needed funds for
the making of a municipal 3-D map and for a workshop to
formulate a comprehensive land use plan. From September
13-29, the municipal 3-D map was constructed.
As a result of the partnership’s awareness-raising and advo-
cacy work, women in two of the pilot areas started recover-
ing traditional rice varieties and to do seed exchange. Several
individuals also campaigned to revive traditional synchro-
nized cropping in rice production, and by end 2009 Ahin to a
certain extent adopted this practice once again.
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Noteworthy to mention is that while initially the MPDO
Coordinator was a mere observer, he later became an active
focal person in involving LGUs and other line agencies in
the project. He convened three inter-agency consultations: a
roundtable discussion with the Municipal Council on map-
ping as a research and planning tool, and presentation of ini-
tial findings to two groups, first to line agency representatives
and the Tinoc mayor; and second, to the then newly elected
municipal councilors to orient them on the project status and
the previous administration’s commitments to it.
While progress in networking was similarly slow, the Land
Summit in January 2010 succeeded in uniting stakeholders
on a municipal level on current challenges they face and in
producing a covenant on actions to take. While the summit
highlighted the Kalanguya’s profound knowledge in manag-
ing territories and sustaining and improving biodiversity, it
also sounded the alarm on its state of erosion. In some areas
of origin like Tinoc, indigenous knowledge is disappearing
as people succumb to “modernity” in response to discrimi-
nation even as the international community is increasingly
promoting it to remedy global ecological ills. The summit un-
derscored the present challenges of a degraded environment
resulting from chemical monocrop farming, decreased land
security due to privatization of communal lands, and waning
authority on customary law especially on resource use.
From their collective learning the participants came to some
conclusions:
“We may not be able to convert privatized bel-ew
(watershed) back to ‘communal’ land but ‘owners’ must
agree to convert and maintain it as part of the watershed
and community protected area.”
“We need to strengthen our customary laws and further
develop our indigenous knowledge systems on sustain-
able use.”
The summit also presented a conceptual framework on com-
prehensive land use planning and other potential arenas of
engagement through discussions on the UN Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous Peoples
Rights Act.
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The covenant, signed by 63 leader representatives of all 12
barangays of Tinoc, called for action to “arrest environmen-
tal degradation and promote people’s wellbeing.” To carry
this out, they identified socioeconomic projects their villages
can undertake to (1) halt environmental deterioration (e.g.,
reforestation and delineation of community protected areas)
and (2) increase food security through sustainable food pro-
duction systems, renewable energy development and, where
feasible, reviving and promoting innovations/development
of traditional occupations (e.g., permaculture in rotational
agricultural areas).
Some participants also recommended a popular version of
the convenant for broader use and, should communities
agree, for it to be used in municipal land use planning, in
conjunction with the Ancestral Domain Sustainable Devel-
opment Protection Plan and the Barangay Development
Plan. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples was
tasked to lead an information and education campaign on the
ADSDPP while the partnership volunteered to be a member
of the secretariat for it.
The project then convened a forum to finalize the proceed-
ings of the summit and to discuss implementation of identi-
fied socioeconomic projects, some of which the partnership
committed to support. An information, education and cam-
paign (IEC) and popularization of the Land Summit results
and covenant were to go hand in hand with IEC on the ADS-
DPP, but the latter failed to be conducted as planned. Thus in
August the partnership consulted community elders in pilot
sites on whether they wanted to spearhead the IEC on the
summit results and covenant.
On October 29, 2010 the Man-ili Leaders’ Forum of the Lower
Tinoc cluster was convened in barangay Tulludan. The fo-
rum gathered elders and leaders of the man-ili, a traditional
mutual aid organization in a community. They discussed
collectively the role of the Man-ili in planning and imple-
menting concrete steps and programs to stop environmental
degradation and promote people’s wellbeing as called for by
the covenant. Specifically the forum aimed to:
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1. Share with and update the participants on the results
of the First I-tinek Land Summit;
2. Deepen their understanding of international and na-
tional laws and conventions on indigenous peoples’
rights;
3. Provide a venue for them to decide on the adoption
of the covenant;
4. Enable them to initially assess the status of Man-ili
and its capacity to spearhead the promotion and
subsequent planning for implementation of the cov-
enant.
The Man-ili Leaders’ Forum was a turning point for the
project. Where before it was the partnership that articulated
issues and concerns based on the research findings, at the
Man-ili forum community leaders themselves defined the
problems that need to be addressed. Among these are the
potential of their traditional knowledge and culture to solve
environmental ills, weakening unity of communities, and
cultural erosion due to religion. They also raised the need
for the entire Tinoc municipality to unify on current land
and resource issues to be able to resolve them based on a
common understanding. Finally the Man-ili forum commit-
ted to incorporate the covenant in the plans of all farmers’
associations in Lower Tinoc, with their implementation to be
overseen by their leaders and elders.
Capacity Building
Through actual observations and processes of learning to-
gether, the project identified the following interventions for
capacity building:
1. One is community organizing for people’s empower-
ment to counter a widespread dependence on gov-
ernment. Many of the community people expressed
a desire to do things for themselves. While seen as an
immediate concern, it was only after a year that this
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was seriously addressed but it was again disrupted
by the May 2010 national election. Organizing gained
headway by the third quarter of the year when four
farmers’ organizations were formed and elders’ orga-
nizing was launched in the pilot barangays.
2. From the start, seminars and trainings towards a
better understanding of traditional knowledge on
sustainable resource use took center stage. This was
intended to address the prevailing sentiment that
the villagers no longer practice many of their tradi-
tional ways as they have embraced Christianity and
modern farming methods. The trainings focused on
the sound ecological bases of indigenous knowledge
to check the declining confidence in traditional life-
ways. These were largely successful as in three of
the five pilot sites, the people immediately started
revitalizing traditional farm practices, e.g., seed ex-
changes among women to retrieve traditional rice
varieties, synchronizing activities in paddy cultiva-
tion, strengthening the ubbo system (labor exchange
networks among different sectors for farm activities).
The project further engaged four of the five commu-
nities in in-situ innovations in enhancing soil fertility
by using indigenous micro-organisms and ferment-
ing plants for foliar fertilizers.
3. The organizational and management aspect of the
socioeconomic work was an on-the-job-training for
leaders and members as they formulated their basis
of unity and implemented small scale projects.
4. Training on advocacy and networking outside the
community are continuing in informal fora. A more
comprehensive seminar on it will be given as part of
the planned land use planning activity.
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Socioeconomic Work
To date, the partnership has implemented three projects.
The first was the construction of the Wangwang Footbridge
in July-December 2009. This project is the first of its kind in
the community on four counts: best in quality and durability
in the municipality, designed through collective discussion,
implemented through an ubbo group and done through a
collaborative effort of the people’s organization and the ba-
rangay council.
The second project set up a blacksmith training center
through the newly formed Tinoc Panday Group in collabora-
tion with the local government unit. Blacksmithing is one of
the traditional occupations in the area, but in the entire cen-
tral Tinoc only one living blacksmith continues to practice it.
As 53-year-old Daniel Binay-an declared,
It gives me great pleasure to be a trainor in blacksmithing. I
thought I would not be able to transmit the skills I have. The
project now gives me the opportunity to lead a more meaning-
ful life, I can transfer my skills to others. As such, I will die a
happy man.
According to the Tinoc municipal government, people have
continuously streamed into the blacksmith training center
to have their tools repaired since it opened in August 2010.
This also manifests the tradition of kailala in which people are
wont not to waste but to optimize the use of every resource.
A third project was the establishment of the Inum-an Devel-
opment Project launched on November 23. The inum-an is
the rotational agricultural area or where shifting cultivation
is practiced. Since time immemorial, the inum-an has con-
tributed much of the people’s sustenance. Before rice terraces
were built, these areas supplied rice, camote (sweet potato),
legumes and vegetables. Up to this time, these continue to
supplement rice farming, contributing more than 50 percent
of the food needs of the village. However, inum-an manage-
ment has to contend with 1) shorter fallow periods, thus de-
creased soil fertility and reduced productivity; 2) need for
better soil erosion control as the environment becomes more
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
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fragile; 3) growing population and limited land; 4) decreas-
ing labor force and 5) the need for cash.
With the Inum-an Development Project, innovations for sus-
tainable food systems can be showcased and food security
enhanced. Specifically, the project aims to:
1. Support interested ubbo groups, with members of
organized groups as a priority, willing to integrate
innovations in their inum-an;
2. Provide learning venues for other members of com-
munities for innovative technologies;
3 . Increase productivity of the inum-an;
4. Contribute to increasing food security of project ben-
eficiaries; and
5. Contribute to organizational funds to promote and
develop sustainable food systems.
In closing remarks at the project launching, Tinoc Vice Mayor
Agustin Calyaen declared,
I have been with NGOs and am knowledgeable on how they
work, but with the very short time I sat down with you, I
can already see notable aspects of the project we have just
launched. One, in the educational portion, this project started
talking about our very own traditional knowledge on inum-an
management before it tackled new concepts and models of
modern day sloping agricultural land technologies. Second,
the project did not only provide the venue for learning but
also the needed support for it to take off.
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
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Challenges on the Ground
While outsiders, we were confident that we would be able to
adjust well, having a good grasp of the situation of indige-
nous communities; and being indigenous persons ourselves,
knowledgeable on their dynamic culture. However, it took
some time and a lot of effort on our part to be accepted and
to establish rapport with the community people, mainly due
to language and cultural differences. This slowed down the
process in conducting the research but we were able to adjust
and hurdle the gaps before the end of the first year. From then
on, the project gradually but steadily gained momentum.
The challenges became clear as we familiarized ourselves
with the dynamics in the area and deepened our research.
In the process we became more confident in linking the local
to the global context and in linking solutions to the develop-
ment of traditional knowledge and lifeways. Government
line agencies and more people became interested in the
partnership’s work. And the project’s capacity to spread its
sphere from the five pilot sites to the whole of Tinoc grew
promising, especially when the Municipal Council proposed
to upscale land use planning to a municipal level.
There was much optimism for the project until a military-
induced disruption on November 13, 2009. On that day, four
members of the insurgent New Peoples Army (NPA) were
captured in Gumhang, Tinoc by a Philippine National Police
contingent. While no exchange of fire occurred between the
rebels and PNP, shots fired by the latter triggered the evacu-
ation of about 300 people from Gumhang and Binablayan
to Poblacion Tinoc. Many were accommodated by their
relatives in Poblacion but a big number had to stay in the
open gym. The partnership facilitated the entry of relief and
medical missions on November 17-18 and November 27-28
respectively.
Our involvement in those missions was the start of a persis-
tent military disinformation campaign. The partnership was
accused of being an NPA front; and the project, a venue to
recruit NPA members. As a result, some key personalities
in the pilot barangays and in the municipality became wary
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
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of the project. This affected the participation of community
people in succeeding project activities. The Land Summit in
January 2010 and the follow-up activity in March, while well
attended, did little to dissipate apprehensions.
This problem became increasingly felt as the project pro-
gressed. At the Land Summit, the anticipated broad mu-
nicipal participation beyond the four pilot barangays did not
materialize. Prior to January 2010, our activities often had
from 85 percent to more than 100 percent participation, but
from January to July, lower numbers were noted. During this
period, barely half of target participants attended two major
activities, although community people had been enthusiastic
in their planning and even requested for larger participation.
The activities were a planning session for implementation
of the land covenant and training on sustainable agriculture
technologies. Moreover only 25 percent of invited people
attended the Fifth Cross Visit of the Philippine Traditional
Knowledge Network.
Igorot Peoples and Military Repression
The Igorots figured prominently in the struggle against develop-
ment aggression during the Marcos administration in the late 70s
to early 80s. The government then planned to build four mega-
dams along the Chico River that would inundate several Bontok
and Kalinga villages in Mountain Province and Kalinga. It also
gave a logging concession to the Cellophill Resource Corpora-
tion covering 200,000 hectares, again in indigenous territories in
Mountain Province and Kalinga as well as Abra. Threatened with
displacement from their lands and traditional livelihood sources,
the people waged a relentless protest until they were able to stop
the operation of the logging firm and construction of the dam.
This was recorded as the first successful protest by indigenous
peoples against a World Bank project in the entire world.
While not as well known, the Kalanguya of Tinoc, Ifugao were
also able to halt the logging operations of Heald Lumber Com-
pany in barangay Ahin. Awareness raising and organizing by the
people’s movement also contributed significantly to bringing an
end to the rule of two political dynasties in the province.
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These experiences and the need to address continuing develop-
ment aggression, including the green revolution, became an
inspiration to progressive individuals and groups, giving birth
to peoples organizations, the biggest of which is the Cordillera
Peoples Alliance for the Defense of Land, Life and Resources
and for Self Determination. It further led to the establishment of
non-government organizations in the search for mechanisms and
strategies for pro-people based development.
Progressive and quick to critique and act against anti-people
state policies, laws and programs, these NGOs and POs were
identified with leftist radicals and targeted for red baiting. Mili-
tary harassment intensified with OPLAN Bantay Laya, a military
anti-insurgency campaign that led to extrajudicial killings and
enforced disappearances of NGO and PO members.
Some barangays of Tinoc similarly experienced military repres-
sion during the Marcos dictatorship. Tukucan was hamletted,
forcing some villagers to migrate to other barangays, while some
residents of Binablayan were illegally detained and tortured by
the military not only once but thrice during this period.
The low participation was initially attributed to election fe-
ver but in-depth discussions revealed that military members
based in Tinoc had sought an audience with local govern-
ment officials, especially at municipal peace council meet-
ings where they spread disinformation about the project.
Specifically they declared the project a front for recruitment
by the New Peoples Army and project staff including local
researchers as NPA members. These deceptions apparently
affected participation by community people in project activi-
ties.
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Weaknesses and Limitations
The project has identified certain weaknesses that brought
about and may even have magnified some of the problems
encountered. Also, several planned activities have yet to be
implemented.
1. The partnership failed to clarify to concerned govern-
ment line agencies from the start that being a signa-
tory to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity,
the Philippine government is obliged to implement
CBD programs and to accomplish its 2010 biodiver-
sity targets. Had this been made clear, perhaps the
LGUs and line agencies would have stood up for the
project, and the red scare avoided.
2. Even after noting that the National Commission on In-
digenous Peoples failed to take the lead in unification
processes, the project waited too long to act on this
concern. The first initiative was convening an inter-
agency body (church sector, line agencies, legislative
body, other NGOs) to follow up recommendations of
the Land Summit, but a meeting was never held. It
was only in July that the partnership took decisive
steps; it consulted elders in lower Tinoc, and in Oc-
tober the Man-ili leaders forum was convened which
adopted and committed to implement the Land Sum-
mit Covenant.
3. At the start, the partnership worked with regular
NGO facilitators rather than with local researchers.
Thus it took longer to resolve language and com-
munication difficulties and to build rapport with the
community. In June 2010 it started working directly
with community people. Proper orientation, clear
instructions and close supervision were provided to
the local researchers, and the pace of data gathering
hastened. Moreover, they were better able to gather
different views and feedback from different sectors
in their communities which they reported back to
the project staff. These helped improve methods and
clarify immediate concerns to be acted on.
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
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Summary
Being indigenous peoples ourselves, we were eager to get
the work off the ground and to complete the project de-
velopment phase in the first six months. We were granted
community consent to undertake the project through a very
democratic process on the fourth month but it was only on
the 10th month that we made a breakthrough in getting the
people’s trust and cooperation. This was after they were able
to discern that unlike other groups who look down on tradi-
tional knowledge, the project has a high level of appreciation
and strong support for indigenous peoples, their knowledge
systems and lifeways. The work continued to be slow but we
were able to accomplish the following:
1. Facilitated discussions to show correctness and
soundness of many of the traditional knowledge and
lifeways. These resulted in people becoming more
confident in their traditional knowledge and a reviv-
al of their agricultural practice of seed exchange and
synchronous activities in rice production. Awareness
raising for traditional knowledge appreciation has
led to a campaign for cultural renewal and knowl-
edge revival not only in the pilot sites but to a certain
extent throughout the municipality;
2. Documentation of the Kalanguya’s traditional knowl-
edge, custom law and ecosystems approach;
3. Capacity building among leaders for promotion and
innovations/development of traditional knowledge;
4. Recognition and action by communities to strengthen
indigenous political systems partly through elders’
organizing;
5. Commitment of support by barangay councils,
government line agencies and the Tinoc Municipal
Council to the project in terms of resource sharing in
activities.
PART 1: Engaging the Kalanguya
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PART 2
Traditional Knowledge on
Ecosystems-based Approach of the
Kalanguya of Tinoc
Tinoc: Land and People

The Kalanguya are one of seven major ethnolinguistic groups
who occupy the Cordillera administrative region. They trace
their origin to Tinek (now Tinoc) in Ifugao province. Ifugao
and the provinces of Apayao, Benguet, Kalinga, Abra and
Mountain Province make up the Cordillera region, and to-
gether have 1,152 villages distributed in 78 towns.
The Kalanguya were largely an anonymous group to eth-
nologists, census surveyors and anthropologists who made
the first inventories and studies of Filipino ethnic groups
during the Spanish (1521-1898) and American (1898-1946)
colonial periods (cf Resurreccion, 1999). They generally
identify themselves as Igorot (from the mountains), a term
referring to the upland peoples in the Cordillera region who
live in scattered settlements mostly found between 500 and
2000 meters above sea level (MASL).14 The Igorots resisted
Spanish rule, thus preserving their cultural autonomy that
marked their difference from lowland, hispanized Filipinos.
Through more than 350 years of colonization, they persisted
in their indigenous social organization, decision making, dis-
pute settlement institutions and cultural practices. In com-
parison the majority of Filipinos were effectively colonized,
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abandoning much of their indigenous culture and adopting
those of the Spanish and later American colonizers.
Genealogically the Kalanguya are closest to the Ibaloi and
Kankana-ey, the indigenous groups living in most of Ben-
guet province (Lewis, 1992). They are called by these Benguet
groups I-kadasan or people living in the kalasan (oak forest)
or sometimes as Ikalahan, a name made more popular in the
last 20 years by an American missionary.15
The original territory of the Kalanguya is Ahin, now one of 12
barangays of Tinoc municipality. Tinoc was originally called
Tinek which conforms to the Kalanguya language that puts
a stress on the second syllable. Tinek denotes the past tense
of tenek, which means scooping water with a dipper or water
container. In Ifugao folklore, tinek was the collective action
the people took to try to save Bugan, the wife of legendary
leader Balitok, who drowned in a pond paddy. Tinek was ad-
opted as the name of the place to honor her and her generos-
ity. Bugan is remembered for always giving much more than
what was due to people who worked in her fields.
Among the three major indigenous groups in Ifugao, the
Kalanguya are known as the most peace loving. They form
the dominant group in Tinoc and have several sub-groups
or tribes. These are the Ipulyang from present-day barangay
Binablayan; Ihaggud from Wangwang; Itabuy from Luhong
and Danggo; Itinek from Poblacion; Ibangtinen from Eheb;
Ikanawalan from Lusod; and Inangabulan from Impugong and
Tawangan. A few come from other tribes.
Formation of Communities
Most Tinoc communities were in existence before the Span-
iards arrived in the 16th century as the Ahin rice terraces
were already built by then.
The first Kalanguya settlements were set up along the River
Ahin. These are Amun Pagey, Amkalew and Duntogto. From
there, settlements expanded to Kalaban, Pulyang, Baliwang-
wang, Tabo, Pan-iblayan, Tumakguing, Ahin, Bayembeng,
Tabuy and Tukucan.
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MUNICIPALITY OF TINOC
Source: ADSDPP Tinoc
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Today Barangay Ahin is the seat of Kalanguya culture. Its
lower portion is a narrow valley following the Ahin River
from northwest to southeast on one side, and on the other,
a mix of valleys and mountains with moderate to very steep
slopes. In Tukucan, a four-hour hike to the southeast, com-
munity formation followed the first wave of expansion, with
its first inhabitants settling near a hot spring with moderately
sloping areas. Having a much wider flat area and favorable
irrigation sources, Ahin developed an elaborate rice culture,
while Tukucan acquired a more sophisticated knowledge
system in shifting cultivation with camote as the main crop.
The sparsely populated area allowed people to pick choice
lands, creating dispersed settlements. Ahin extended to as
far as Tulludan, a 1-hour hike from the main settlement area,
and downward to Wangwang. The Kalanguya were joined in
Wangwang by the Tuwali, another ethnolinguistic group in
Ifugao found in the neighboring municipality of Hungduan.
But eventually the area was dominated by the Kalanguya.
The expansion towards Binablayan followed. According to a
more than 70-year-old female descendant of one of the first
three family settlers, Binablayan is only a hundred years
old.
Migration
Several waves of outmigration occurred among the Kalan-
guya of Tinoc because of conflicts, war and epidemics.16
The first was in the early years of terrace building when
headhunters from Ifugao tribes in neighboring villages at-
tacked their settlement. The elders referred to this period as
tingpun bonkilew, the time of turmoil or turbulent life, and
the headhunting days as bohol (headhunters). The Kalan-
guya people did not put up any resistance and fled to more
remote undeveloped parts, thinking they were only tempo-
rarily leaving their source of livelihood, well developed by
then, and would return when the enemies had departed.
But the invaders stayed, bringing over their families to the
Kalanguya settlement. They tried to expand the terraces the
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Kalanguya built but were themselves forced to leave when
an epidemic caused many deaths among them. Fearing they
had incurred the anger of the gods for attacking and driving
the peaceful Kalanguya tribe out of their land, the invaders
left. Some Kalanguya families returned to their homes but
others who were afraid of the plague settled permanently in
other places.
The second wave of outmigration happened during the con-
struction of the Spanish trail. Originating from Tirad Pass in
Cervantes, the trail passes through Benguet to Tinoc, Hung-
duan, Banaue and Aguinaldo in Ifugao and ends in coastal
Palanan in Isabela. It is said to have been the escape route
of General Emilio Aguinaldo after the battle with American
forces in the early 1900s. Kalanguyas left Tinoc for two main
reasons: they refused to do forced labor imposed by the
Spanish colonial government to construct the Spanish trail
and to pay taxes in the form of the yearly cedula (community
tax certificate). People who could not pay the cedula were
compelled to work with no pay for 40 days a year. It took
more than 30 years for the Spanish trail to be completed. The
Kalanguya who resented the forced labor policy migrated
southward to contiguous portions of the provinces of Ben-
guet, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan and the hilly fringes of
Nueva Ecija.
Another wave of migration took place during World War
II when Kalanguya people evacuated to Baguio in Benguet.
Those who remained in Ahin and Pulyang were reduced by
sickness or became war victims. After the war many returned
from Baguio and settled in the area now called Tinoc Pobla-
cion. But not long after, an outbreak of ham-al, described as
similar to malaria, struck which some people blamed on the
bombs dropped during the war. As a result, many people
again left and migrated to Nueva Viscaya. Lastly, when
President Marcos implemented a homestead program, some
of the Kalanguya took the opportunity to acquire new lands,
migrating to Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Isabela.
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Creation of Tinoc Municipality
Before the 80s, Tinoc was a barangay of Hungduan, one of
Ifugao’s first seven municipalities created in 1966. Tinoc be-
came a municipality on March 16, 1982 with the approval
of Republic Act 184,17 and overwhelmingly affirmed by resi-
dents in a plebiscite held a year after.18 The establishment of
Tinoc municipality was an acknowledgment of the distinc-
tive culture of the Kalanguyas in upper Hungduan from the
Tuwalis in lower Hungduan. Today Tinoc, with 12 baran-
gays, is one of the 12 municipalities of Ifugao.
Up to 1996 Tinoc had one of the remaining intact mossy forests
in the Cordillera region. Its vast forest land is characterized
by hilly slopes and areas where creeks, brooks and streams
cascade to three main river systems. While supplying the wa-
ter needs of residents, most of the water flows directly down-
stream to merge with other river tributaries, forming part of
the headwaters of the Magat-Mallig-Siffu River (popularly
known as Magat River) that supplies Magat Dam. Located
along the Isabela-Ifugao border, the Magat Dam irrigates
at least 80,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and parts of
Cagayan and generates around 360 megawatts of electricity.
It is the second biggest power contributor to the Luzon grid
after Pangasinan’s San Roque Dam.19
Tinoc is generally mountainous, marked by rugged and steep
ridges with the highest point at 2,932 meters above sea level
in barangay Tukucan while the lowest elevation is about
680 MASL in barangay Wangwang. Creeks flow in between
mountains, serving as a vital irrigation source for rice fields
and vegetable farms. The creeks form rivers that drain in
Bambang in the neighboring province of Nueva Vizcaya.
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Pilot Communities: a Profile
Up to 1996 Tinoc was the only municipality in the whole
country that was not accessible by vehicle. In 2003 the road
network was completed, opening the town through three
entry points. However, some of the pilot barangays are still
difficult to reach even today.
The barangays of Ahin, Binablayan, Tulludan and Wang-
wang are accessible through the Lagawe-Hungduan-Tinoc
road by public transportation. People enroute to Tulludan
however either have to wait in Wangwang for the few buses
coming from Baguio (which take from 10-11 hours of travel),
or hike three hours uphill. Up to the present no regular pub-
lic transportation goes to Tukucan; one has to hike from 1.5
to 2 hours from Munsuyusoy.
All of the five pilot barangays have physical characteristics
that favor agricultural production. The mountain ranges gen-
erally have sandy loam soil suitable to temperate crops and
fruit plants, as long as irrigation is available in the summer
season. Along the riverbanks and low-lying lands, the soil is
clay loam, which indicates rich soil suited to rice and veg-
etable production.
Earthquake hazard zones from the Cadaclan River Valley
traverse the Hapao Fault Zone and the eastern border areas
of Tinoc. Young lahar deposits and hot springs are found in
Tukucan, Tulludan and Danggo, another Tinoc barangay
bordering Nueva Vizcaya, but the present generation has no
experience or recollection of stories on volcanic eruptions.
The five villages are generally sub-tropical, cool the whole
year round with some warmer months from February to
August and colder months from September to January. They
have a long rainy season that starts in late May and ends in
late February, leaving only March to April as dry season. The
lowest temperature is experienced in the months of Novem-
ber until February while the hottest months are from March
to May.
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The local people in Wangwang and Tukucan have observed
that from June to November, an easterly (locally termed pay-
os) and westerly (sese) wind direction blows into the commu-
nity. They claim that winds coming from this direction are
stronger in velocity especially during the typhoon months
from July to October.
Observations showed that almost all household clusters in
the pilot barangays receive adequate sunlight from morning
till afternoon, indicating the importance of sun exposure in
house building. Tukucan usually experiences moisture-laden
clouds engulfing the whole village in the early morning and
late afternoon, causing the temperature to drop dramati-
cally.
The five barangays make up 51.7 percent or 12,980 hectares
of Tinoc municipality’s total area of 25,119 hectares.20 They
have a total population of 4,558 distributed in 912 households
with an average household size of five (2009 CBMS survey).
Figure 3. Population in Pilot Areas
CBMS February 2009
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Figure 4. Household Population by Barangay and Gender
CBMS February 2009
Ifugao was among the 10 poorest provinces in the country
until 2000. In that same year, the National Statistical Coordi-
nation Board (NSCB) estimated Tinoc to be the 23rd poorest
municipality (NSCB Small Area Poverty Estimates) with still
relatively high poverty indicators: 46 percent poverty inci-
dence, 13.61 percent poverty gap and 5.47 percent severity of
poverty.21 This means that for every 100 people, 46 live below
the poverty threshold or the computed amount required for
every individual to meet his/her basic food and non-food
needs in a year. The provincial poverty threshold was com-
puted at PhP15,556 in 2006, which is the reference point for
the table below.
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Table 1. Poverty Threshold in Five Barangays
Households below Poverty
Threshold
Barangay
Number of
Households
Number
Percentage
Tulludan
112
80
71.43
Ahin
218
162
74.31
Wangwang
142
117
82.39
Tukucan
199
129
64.82
Binablayan
241
203
84.23
Tinoc CBMS 2009
Culture and Religion
A survey on ethnicity of parents in the five sites showed a
general homogeneity; 92 percent are Kalanguya and almost
all speak the Kalanguya language.
Table 2. Ethnicity/language spoken by Residents in Pilot Sites
Ethnicity
Ahin
Tulludan Wangwang Tukucan Binablayan Total
( % )
Kalanguya
192
73
103
176
97
641
92.10
Tuwali
12
5
3
1
1
22
3.16
Ayangan
1
1
1
0
0
3
0.43
Ibaloi
0
0
0
1
1
2
0.29
Kankanaey
12
6
1
7
1
27
3.88
Others
0
1
0
1
0
2
0.29
Total
217
85
108
186
100
696 100.00
MRDC-Tebtebba survey 2010
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But today with access to radio, television and formal educa-
tion, children at 10 years of age learn other languages such
as Filipino (the national language) and Ilocano (the common
language in the Cordillera region). Others are exposed to
Kankanaey and Tuwali, the languages of neighboring villag-
es, especially the former which many have learned to speak.
The Kalanguya believe they come from the same ancestors
and the sense of kinship bonds them closely. They take it as
a responsibility to help anyone in need and have developed
the mutual aid system called man-ili. The system has no rules
but adheres to accepted traditions where every able-bodied
or at least one representative of a member household extends
help to any member of the community in times of need such
as house building, death, accident, wedding and other im-
portant family occasions. Assistance can be rendered in the
form of labor, finance or materials (i.e., rice, wine) accord-
ing to the household’s means. Balhan is a traditional practice
of passing the hat or soliciting for someone in need in times
of serious illness, hospitalization, death, disaster, e.g., fire,
among others.
This same cultural quality has made the Kalanguya devise
ways of fulfilling labor requirements for specific tasks, e.g.,
regular farm activities, construction of communal irrigation,
house building and the social responsibility to help victims
of disasters (see box).
Before the introduction of christianity, the Ifugao people per-
ceived the world as composed of the sky world, underworld,
eastern world and western world inhabited by immortal and
powerful deities who can perform miracles and give good
as well as bad luck. They believe that souls of the departed
can inflict illness and death among the living and that spirits
reside in the different parts of the village. To communicate
with them, the mabaki (traditional priest) performs rituals to
determine the cause of illness, to appease the spirits who have
caused such and to bring in good luck for a family or com-
munity. Baki is the act/performance of the traditional priest
in communicating with the unseen beings usually accompa-
nied by butchering of chickens or pigs. In Ahin, nearly half of
the community still adhere to the traditional belief system.
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Christian religions first came to Tinoc with the arrival of
Catholic priest Fr. Silbano Castel in 1951 and American Lu-
theran missionary Pastor Juraine Hornig in 1960. These drew
members from the Kalanguya community who adopted the
new religious beliefs. Other religious sects followed thereaf-
ter, such as the Jesus is Alive, Assembly of God, Wesleyan,
Jehovah’s Witnesses and New Life Fellowship.22
Labor and Mutual Aid Systems
Ubbu is the formation of a partnership or group for labor ex-
change. A farmer renders service for another farmer for a num-
ber of days, and the latter in exchange is expected to do the
same. The number of group members depends on the task to be
performed. During harvest or transplanting, more people group
themselves and go from one field to another owned by members.
Dangah entails helping a member of the community to do tasks
that need more hands, like house building or constructing a rice
terrace. The beneficiary prepares lunch for those who come to
help, and for those who bring their own lunch, provides extra
food.
In kedeng a pig is butchered, and its meat distributed to those
interested to do work for the owner of the pig. The meat is sliced
equally and one slice is equivalent to one day’s labor. Animals (es-
pecially pigs) are a traditional piggy bank. If a pig’s owner does
not have any ritual to perform, she/he announces that the animal
is to be butchered and those who want to have some of the meat
and pay for it through labor are given a share. This solves the
problem of market outlet. It becomes a social obligation for the
neighborhood to contribute their labor or buy the meat so they
will similarly be accommodated when it is their turn to butcher
their animal. This is also done when a carabao accidentally dies.
Lagbo involves the use of a pig or other animals to pay for labor/
wage in the construction of rice terraces and/or irrigation.
Some of these religious groups however denounce tradi-
tional rituals, e.g., timbal (wedding), keleng (thanksgiving)
and other ceremonies. This has greatly affected the unity and
cooperation of the community on such occasions, decreasing
the number of those who extend needed help. In the Man-ili
Convention held in Tulludan in October 2010, man-ili leaders
of Lower Tinoc and Barangay Tukucan identified religion as
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one factor that has weakened their communities. They thus
resolved to strengthen their mutual aid and cooperation and
forewarned their members of the entry of a new religious
group that requires its members to throw away all they pos-
sess for a certain period in a year.
Formal education was established in Tinoc in 1947 when a
primary school building was erected; other primary schools
were later built in some barangays. The Tinoc barangay Na-
tional High School was opened in 1969; and in 1996 the Ifu-
gao State College of Agriculture and Forestry was established.
Literacy rate in the pilot areas is 82.07 percent.23
Land Use and Traditional Resource Management
Like other Igorot peoples, the Kalanguya of Tinoc live off the
land. Where it was feasible, the rice culture was developed
within terraced and stonewalled paddy fields even on steep
slopes of more than 50 percent. Where the physical features
limited terracing and irrigation was not available, sweet po-
tato production using rotational agriculture was adopted.
Rice and camote became staple foods, augmented by other
crops both in irrigated and non-irrigated lands, which were
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planted to diverse crops including legumes, vegetables,
fruits, edible wild plants, mushrooms, weeds and fruits, as
well as wild animals and fish from the forests and rivers.
Conklin24 in his study of Ifugao society recorded eight in-
termediate landform types and listed in order of increasing
agricultural involvement as: mapulun (grassland), inalahan
(forest), mabilau (caneland), pinugo (woodlot), habal or uma
(swidden), latangan (house terrace), nailed (drained field) and
payo (pond field). A typical Kalanguya village has also eight
land use and management systems that recognize four types
of land ownership.
Forest land
Among the Kalanguya, forest land consists of the bel-ew or
watershed and the kiyewan or woodlots. The mossy forests
were characterized by the abundance of stunted trees, or-
chids, mosses, lichens, vines with dense undergrowth. Stands
of dipterocarp are found in the warmer portions of Ahin.
Bel-ew. The watershed area covers the higher peaks of the ili
or community/settlement and its integral parts are: (1) along-
ni-hebheb, springs from which flow potable water; (2) along-ni-
danum, an accumulation of many springs that flow down to
the settlement for irrigation via the (3) hayukung (creeks and
streams); (4) dowengan, area for hunting wild game; (5) lin-
genan for bird hunting; (6) tawangan specifically for trapping
of migratory birds; and (7) pehyew or sacred sites believed to
be dwelling areas of spirits. In the sacred sites human entry
is restricted except when rituals are performed. It serves as
a sanctuary for wild animals which, if sustained and main-
tained, ensures a gene pool for the community. People collect
herbal medicines and edible plants in the watershed areas,
but cutting trees and farm cultivation are strictly prohibited.
Kiyewan. Adjacent to the watershed are kiyewan or wood-
lots. These are the source of fuel and timber. For fuel, people
usually cut only the branches of trees.
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The kiyewan is traditionally the communal property of the
community. But in recent years, the practice of muyung has
become widespread, whereby a family assists in regenerating
a cultivated swidden farm into a natural forest by planting
choice trees and constructing permanent soil erosion control
measures. The muyong system can be viewed from different
perspectives: as a forest conservation strategy, a watershed
rehabilitation technique, a farming system or an assisted
natural regeneration strategy. By doing so, the family claims
ownership of that forest land.
Forest Utilization and Conservation Measures
The watershed is open to anyone for collection of food and
herbs and for hunting but burning, tree cutting and clearing
an area for cultivation are forbidden. This had been the rule
up to the 1960s. While there is no pronounced declaration,
people also avoid entering sacred sites. These prohibitions
are strengthened by the belief in ba-u i kiyew or on-eheng which
says a person who cuts down a tree will become poor or will
not progress in life. Moreover, people believe that sacred
sites in the forest are dwelling homes of anitos or bib-biyaw,
unseen beings who inflict sickness on whoever disturbs their
habitat.
The mossy forest is protected by the people because it is clas-
sified as along ni danum or a source of water that supplies
the rice terraces. The identified hebheb is the source of safe,
potable drinking water for the community.
As Magno Dulawon, a recognized elder and leader in Wang-
wang, declared: “Our legacy from our ancestors is our love
for the forest. Where there is a forest we protect it, and where
there is none, we create one.” He noted that what is now
Wangwang and Binablayan (about 4,000 hectares) was once
a pastureland of two Ibaloi baknangs (rich persons), Codia-
mon and Peken. The Ibaloi tribe was one of the more affluent
groups in the Cordillera during the Spanish period, graz-
ing their horses, cows and carabaos in open grassland. The
Kalanguya who settled in Wangwang and Binablayan con-
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structed ricefields and created shrublands and agroforests,
and in their protected areas, mossy forests grew. At present,
the vast grassland is not recognizable except in the humid
dry steep areas (less than 25% of original 4,000 hectares grass-
land). In Ahin, about 1,000 hectares logged by Heald Lumber
Company in the 70s have reverted to a forest (see box).
Protecting the Forest
While we do not have written rules, every member of our com-
munity knows that we do not cut trees in forests, especially in
the bel-ew. And even in the kiyewan, which is designated as our
source of fuel and timber, we do selective cutting; importing
timber was not known to us. For our fuel, we cut the branches
though we usually fell a whole tree during occasions like a wed-
ding, death and kanyaw (prestige or thanksgiving) rituals. Thus
the whole community of Ahin was disturbed when the Heald
Lumber Company started cutting trees in its territory sometime
in the late 70s. I remember people negotiated with the company
to stop, but they did not listen. It was only when people resorted
to violence, confiscating their equipment that the company
stopped. A significant portion (about a thousand hectares) of the
kiyewan was logged and that experience showed us that we had
to fight for our rights.
Magno Dulawon
The Kalanguya’s love of the forest and their conservation
measures and sustainable use have enabled some of their
communities to maintain a forest cover of more than 50 per-
cent of the total land area of their ili. As seen in the following
table, the forested areas in Ahin and Tukucan comprise more
than 80 percent and 56 percent respectively of the total land
area up to the 1970s. These figures are more than the ideal
40 percent forest cover prescribed by the Department of En-
vironment and Natural Resources (DENR).25 In Binablayan,
Tulludan and Wangwang, forest cover was close to 50 per-
cent of their total land areas before 2000.
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Figure 6. Land Use in Ahin and Tukucan, 1970
Computed26 estimate (number of hectares)
Table 3. Forest Cover in Study Sites27
Estimated Forest
Barangay
Total Land Area
(in hectares)
Cover
(in hectares)
Binablayan
1,133
566.50
Tukucan
1,023
511.50
Tulludan
614
307.00
Wangwang
782
391.00
Total
3,552
1,776.00
Percentage of forest cover to total land area 50%
Forest biodiversity
Mount Pulag National Park, which straddles three provinces
including Tinoc, Ifugao, is a protected area covering approxi-
mately 11,500 hectares. Lying on the north and south spine
of the Grand Cordillera Central Mountain Range, Mount
Pulag is one of the Philippines’ 18 protected areas identified
as having high plant diversity. It is also the habitat of several
threatened species of mammals such as the Philippine Brown
Deer, Northern Giant Cloud Rat and Longhaired Fruit Bat.28
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An inventory of the biodiversity of Mount Pulag in 1999
showed four types of vegetation: 1) a mixed vegetation of
grass and scattered broad-leaved shrubs and trees (second-
ary forest); 2) at 1,200 to 2,200 MASL, a belt of open forest
dominated by pine species, particularly pinus insularis; 3)
between 2,200 and 2,600 MASL, a mossy oak forest; d) from
2,600 to 2,922 MASL, a unique forest of dwarf bamboo that
looks like an open grassland from a distance. Mount Pulag
boasts a rich reservoir of flora and fauna with 101 species of
plants belonging to 22 families and 77 avian species.29
Flora and fauna identification in August 2009 by people in the
project sites (focus group discussions) revealed even wider
plant diversity than those listed by Boquiren. They named
120 species of seven plant families as well as 56 avian species,
seven species of wild honey bees and eight species of animals
in their forests.
Table 4: Number of Plant and Animal Species identified by Community
People in Project Sites

Number Identified
Plants
120
Grasses
18
Vines
12
Ferns
4
Shrubs
13
Herbs
8
Trees
45
Wild Mushrooms
20
Birds
56
Migratory Birds
8
Endemic Birds
48
Honey Bees
7
Wild four-legged Animals
8
This attests to the richness of the people’s knowledge of
their territory’s biodiversity. This is generally high among
middle-aged adults.30 They learned how to identify and use
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forest plants and animals as they participated in hunting and
gathering in the forest, with their father usually naming what
they brought home. Sadly the same knowledge is low among
the young generation or those below 25 years old.
In terms of uses, all birds and animals the local people identi-
fied are sources of food. Of known shrubs, grasses, ferns and
mushrooms, 37 are also edible; 29 are medicinal with specific
uses; nine can be used for handicrafts and four are needed
in house building. Trees are generally for fuel, lumber and
tools, and the people generally know the best tree to use for
a certain purpose.
Table 5. Number of Plants identified According to Use
Use
Number of plants
Food
37
Medicine
29
Handicraft
9
House building
4
Traditional Hunting
While there is no particular season for hunting, almost always
men engage in this activity after farm work in the rice pad-
dies and inum-an has been completed. They hunt animals
with the use of various traps and devices. The tegdey/ipit is a
piece of rock or wood tied to a tree or sticks suspended above
ground that is released to hit a passing animal. Other means
are the bito, a hole dug in the ground covered with plants and
topped with food to trap wild game, and the pahul or spear.
Hunters are adept in reading the tracks of wild animals, their
sources of food (e.g., lizards feed in alumit) and their waste,
which they locate to determine where to set up the tegdey/
ipit and bito. Some hunters also use hunting dogs and a rifle
or arrows to pursue and catch wild game. Selective hunting
is employed; pregnant or thin nursing animals are spared.
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Lingen and tegdey are the most common ways of catching
birds, which requires a good knowledge of the weather since
different flocks arrive in different seasons. Akik, the use of
lamps or lighted haleng (pithwood), and tawang, a clearing in
the forest where nets are set up, are done at night and dur-
ing the coldest season of the year when flocks of migratory
birds pass through. Using a net, farmers and hunters catch
the birds for food.
Hunting is guided by traditional practices and beliefs to
prevent accidents or untoward incidents from happening to
hunters. For instance, the ta-ang is a ritual they must perform
in the hunting area in return for the animals they captured.
Hah-lat is another ritual that portrays their belief in the trans-
formation of the hunted animal into other animal forms.
Chickens are commonly used in these rituals.
Pastureland
Open grazing lands of the naduntog/pahtulan are moderate
to steep sloping areas covered with grassland, some parts
of which have trees. The pastureland is a distinct land use
maintained as grasslands for ruminants like horses, carabaos
and lately goats. This is observable in Central Tinoc (clus-
tered villages of Impugong, Poblacion and Ap-apid). But in
the past, pasturelands apparently were not maximized by
the Kalanguya, as some elders associated these areas with
wild horses and cows abandoned by their Ibaloi owners. The
use of carabaos among ricefield owners was also common
before World War II but these were left behind when people
evacuated their villages. Lower Tinoc at that time apparently
became a refuge for Japanese soldiers who harvested the rice
and butchered the water buffalo; no carabao remained for
those who returned after the war.
Up to this time, the use of the carabao has not regained its
popularity. Former grasslands are now gradually being in-
vaded by shrubs or converted into farmlands in the study
sites in lower Tinoc including Tukucan. Given a source of
water, these areas can transform into agroforests.
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Inum-an or Rotational Agriculture
All around the mountainous areas from the foothills to as
high as 1,800 MASL and with slopes ranging from 25 degrees
to 85 degrees are inum-an areas where swidden31 farming
can be done by any member of the community. The inum-an
is a non-tillage cultivation of diverse crops in sloping areas
dependent on rain for irrigation with features of soil fertil-
ity maintenance, soil erosion control measures and land use
optimization. It has sustained generations of people and has
persisted to the present despite being blamed as the main
culprit for deforestation.
In lower elevations, crop cultivation starts with rice. After
transplanting the rice plants, farmers clear an area for a swid-
den. They cut the brush and small trees but leave larger trees,
creating a parkland scenery of cultivated and fallow swid-
dens dotted with single trees. Trees retained in swiddens are
a conscious action to preserve “tree seeds” in order to assist
regrowth of the forest.32
The inum-an is planted to camote as the main crop, as it is a
staple and main food for both people and domesticated ani-
mals, specifically pigs. Camote is rotated with corn and le-
gumes, and the fringes of the inum-an are planted to cassava,
different kinds of legumes (e.g., kaldih, aggayap, atab, aknaban,
utung, bulhi), Chinese cabbage, mustard, onions. Some villag-
ers claimed that before the construction of rice terraces, the
warmer areas were also planted to upland rice, which until
now Barangay Danggo cultivates.
Up to the 1970s, inum-an areas were communal lands of the
tribe. Many indigenous peoples in the Cordillera believe
there must always be lands held in common so that no per-
son is deprived of a source of sustenance; for as long as one
is willing to work the land, no one will go hungry. This is
so with the Kalanguya, but they recognize the right of prior
use of the family who first opens the inum-an area for cul-
tivation. Hence, if one is interested to farm it, s/he should
seek permission from the first user, and such requests have
always been readily granted.
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Inum-an Tecnology
When February comes around signaling the start of summer,
the onset of hij-uma or preparation of the inum-an ensues.
The transplanting of rice plants would have been completed,
and women take over the home front from their husbands,
freeing them from the care of small children. This is the time
when male members of the household scout for a good place
to do uma or swidden cultivation. Forested areas are known
to be the most fertile, but shrub lands are preferred as work
there is much easier. The shrub land was the choice for rice
cultivation while cane grass areas were considered good
enough for planting camote, as these could yield as much
as the former. After selecting a plot, the farmer does gahat,
clearing a portion of the area, usually on the lowest part. The
gahat gives the sign that the area is reserved.
Preparing the inum-an takes place after the kulpi. Three to
five men form ubbo groups to clear their inum-an plots by
slashing the vegetation, leaving some trees to serve as a
trellis for climbing plants. The cleared vegetation is spread
over the land to dry and burned just before the first rain. The
Kalanguya traditionally burned all cut grasses and trees to
help soften the soil and ensure healthier plants. Just before
the first rain arrives, farmers would already have burned the
area. While waiting for the cut vegetation to dry, some men
go out of their villages to look for alternative sources of living
such as trading or wage labor. The men left behind gather
honey, crabs, frogs and fish in the river.
Prior to planting, ngap-ul is done where all unburned and re-
maining debris are gathered for a second burning. The ashes
are spread over the land, which is then ready for planting.
Controlled burning is ensured by kinkin in which surround-
ing areas are cleared to create a firebreak and the same is done
around trees they want to preserve within the swidden.
Usually swiddens are planted to corn intercropped with le-
gumes, which have shallower roots than camote. When the
legumes sprout, often at about the same time that around
three to five leaves of corn have come out, the camote vines
prepared 3-5 days earlier and covered with dry grass is
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planted. The method and period of preparation strengthens
the camote stem so as not to be brittle, and root development
is enhanced, ensuring more tubers to be formed.
Soil erosion control is also part of the inum-an technology.
Unburned big plant materials (bangen) such as logs are strate-
gically placed on slopes to minimize soil run-off. This is com-
bined with gengen or uprooted camote vines during clearing
and weeding of the inum-an. The vines are coiled and lined
up vertically in slopes, with half being buried to decompose
and the other half left above ground to form humps. The
buried part serves as green manure and the part sticking out
from the soil serves as soil catchment to prevent topsoil from
running down the mountain slopes.
Four to six months after the camote is planted, the first tubers
can be harvested called bun-hi. The biggest tuber is taken and
in the first harvest, only one is taken per camote plant. Baka
is the regular harvesting thereafter, done every two to four
days depending on the size of the family and the number of
pigs to be fed. Women usually carry a load of 30 to 40 kilos
of camote with every visit to the inum-an. The replacement
of camote plants is done in a staggered manner to ensure the
continuous supply of camote tuber from the same unit of
land for a period of two to three years.
After two years of providing a continuous supply of camote,
the final harvest is performed with the lihad where all re-
maining tubers are dug up and all camote vines are uprooted
(laklak). Together with grasses and weeds within and around
the vicinity of the inum-an, these are buried into the soil to
serve as green manure for the next crop. The land is then
planted either to camote of different varieties from another
field, again with legumes and corn, or to ginger or pigeon
peas. If planted to camote, another 2-year camote cycle with
diverse plants on the fringes is repeated. After the second
final harvest on the fourth year, the land is left to fallow.
Ginger and pigeon peas are left on their own with irregular
checking for ginger, which is harvested in the second year.
Pigeon peas are harvested yearly and cleaning is done to
maintain the land.
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A normal inum-an is planted to about 15 to 20 food crops,
and six varieties of camote are usually intercropped in the
same area. Since camote vines grow to completely cover the
ground, legumes and corn are planted first before the camote.
Other crops such as pineapple, sugar cane, vegetables and
legumes are planted on the periphery.
The practice of rotating and intercropping various crops is
also done in the bangen, a smaller version of the inum-an near
the homesite, especially in backyards or lands surrounding
the three sides of the house.
Before the 70s, long years of fallow (more than 10 years) were
observed before a swidden plot was reused. Called kabukab,
the abandoned land is cultivated and replanted. Kabukab,
which is resorted to when no better sites are available, is now
being done more frequently.
Table 6. Crops commonly grown in Inum-an
Camote
11 varieties
Spices
garlic, ginger, onions, leeks
Legumes
cowpea, pigeon pea, beans
Other rootcrops
cassava, taro, yam
Fruits
pineapples, bananas
Vegetables
pechay, mustard
Payew
The payew is the irrigated pond paddy field carved out and
stonewalled on mountain slopes where irrigation is acces-
sible. A rice field includes the budu-han or first paddies that
get irrigated, teneng or dikes that hold the water within the
field, labah or stonewalls that make the field walls sturdy,
guhingan or entry and exit points of the irrigation water, taban
or a dry area within the rice paddy, lidah, unirrigated space at
the base in a corner or above the rice field that can be planted
to vegetables and fruits and camote, and waklitan, peripheral
parts of the paddy field.
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The payew provides not only rice but also a source of pro-
tein (e.g., mudfish, snails, frogs) and edible weeds which any
member of the community can collect. Rice was once rotated
with a variety of vegetables like onions and legumes when
tinu-ul was practised. The tinu-ul entails forming mounds
from a mixture of soil, rice straw and weeds within the
paddy (many mounds are made) and planted to non-aquatic
vegetables. In the Kalanguyas wet rice cultivation, the land
preparation system of the majority can be considered non
tillage, as rice stalks are trampled by foot into the soil.
The payew are privately owned lands by virtue of the con-
struction of stonewalls, which are permanent improvements
on the land. Collective labor is employed to construct both
the irrigation canals (dang-ah, working together for the com-
mon good) and rice paddies (ubbo). While rice paddies are
privately owned, irrigation canals are owned communally.
Alang or rice granaries are built near rice fields to save on
labor in hauling the rice harvest.
In Ahin, Wangwang and Binablayan, rice paddies are well
developed and grouped together, and clusters of homesites
(4-6 sitios, smaller units than the barangay) still retain the
typical Ifugao settlement (bobleh) pattern of 1-3 households.
These three barangays have more rice paddies than Tulludan
and Tukucan, rice being the main staple supplemented by
swidden camote.
Ahin has vast, impressive stonewalled rice terraces—of 4-8
feet paddy fields, 8-16 feet stonewalls—completed two gen-
erations ago. Rice fields were built through labor exchange
groups, each field having a distinct owner. The irrigation
canals were also built through the collective work of all rice
field owners who use them. While potential areas are still
available for rice field expansion, building of new paddy
fields stopped two generations ago. According to Ahin el-
ders, their rice terraces were erected by their grandfathers
and they themselves have not done any terrace building. In
Wangwang, this ceased 10 years ago, as almost all available
land for rice production has been used. The study was not
able to get similar information in Binablayan and Tulludan.
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Irrigation canal construction was also done through collec-
tive work. All rice field owners were required to render labor
until the canals were completed, making them communal
and collectively owned. The irrigation canals have not been
upgraded since they were built.
Distributing water depends greatly on the flow and volume
of water, and for fair distribution the giti system is used. De-
pending on the volume of water, appropriate sizes of wood
or stones called giti are placed in diversion canals. These
regulate the flow of water and if undisturbed, all will have
irrigation. If the wood or stone is moved, it means someone
has diverted more water to his ricefield.
To maintain irrigation canals, regular bulubul is done wherein
more soil is placed in irrigation dikes and along the canal to
plug leaks to minimize water seepage.
An ubbo group of Kalanguya women transplanting rice seedlings in Ahin.
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Activities in Rice Production
After the rice harvest is safely stored in the rice granary,
farmers await the flowering of the pullet and bunyakaw plants,
which coincides with the arrival of the ahib and aladog birds.
This happens around late August to early September and
signals the start of work in the irrigated rice fields. Women
start cleaning the fields, cutting grass and reeds starting on
the higher peripheral areas. All weeds are put into the pond
field and, together with rice stalks, mixed into the soil to de-
compose (deynek).
Deynek is done by both men women. While women are
clearing the ricefields, the men clean and repair the irrigation
system (hipawa tan hihudun alak) to allow the water to flow
freely into the rice paddies. During this time, the hiyet birds
arrive to feed on matured beket fruits. This is followed by an
inventory and exchange of rice seeds among the women and
fixing of the palay seed beds by both men and women.
The drying of the bunyakaw plant is generally accompanied
by strong typhoons. Thus activities in the rice paddies slow
down until the coming of the killing bird around the month
of November, which signals the end of the typhoon season.
During this time, women soak rice seeds in panicles called
binatol for three days. These germinate in three days and are
transferred to the seedbed, hi-hapnak, where germination
continues. The men start to fix the dikes (menneng) with the
use of long spades (gaud). Titik birds also arrive and farmers
catch them for food (hi-tegdey ni titik).
After the general cleaning of the fields (hillamon), the paddies
are plowed and leveled (hi pitew di payew) to ready them for
planting. When the seedlings mature, these are transplanted
(hibgay) to the paddies, usually about six inches apart. The
time after the transplanting is over is called hibbakla.
By February (kulang i-egew or onset of summer), the hiyet and
titik birds take their leave. By this time weeds would have
grown, and kagawkaw or weeding is done within the paddy
pond to remove competitors for soil nutrients and to replace
dead or stunted seedlings. At the same time, surroundings of
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the rice fields are cleared (waklittan) to prevent rats from eat-
ing the rice plants. Farmers also weed the dikes, clean stone-
walls and look for rat tunnels, plugging holes with bundled
grasses to prevent the pest from coming out.
By the time the grains start to mature in late April, farmers
prepare scarecrows for the maya (rice birds) which feed on the
young soft grains. In this season called hi-adug (drive away),
scarecrows (tatakut) are constructed in the rice fields. On the
first day of construction, the rice field owner guards the dikes
to prevent animals and other people from passing through
the fields. Bamboo clappers (iwad) on posts are strung across
the fields, making loud noises when the strings are pulled.
Altib (wooden trap), bantok (tie wire trap), and tal-ong (stick
knotted at the end) are utilized to catch rodents that savage
the crop.
When the grains ripen, in the season called hi-ani, groups of
harvesters of men and women through ubbu go to each field
to reap the rice grains. A few among them choose the best
from the ripened palay to be stored for seedlings (binatol).
A gamlang (hand reaper) is used to cut the rice panicles, and
one or two men gather and bundle these with thin strips of
alinew (bark of a tree).
Farmers dry all the harvested palay before keeping them in
rice granaries.
Right after harvest (around July), adolescent boys spread out
their ube (woven bamboo container) to trap mudfish, leaving
it in the pond field in the night to be collected in the morn-
ing.
Table 7. Division of Labor in Rice Production
Gender Role
Activities in Rice Production
Male Female Both
Clearing weeds around rice field

Incorporating weeds, rice straw into the soil

Cleaning, fixing irrigation systems

Seedbed preparation


Preparing rice field, cleaning

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Seed sowing

General cleaning of surroundings

Strengthening dikes, repairing stonewalls, lev-
eling soil within paddy

Transplanting seedlings

Irrigation and crop monitoring

Removing rice weeds

Cleaning stonewalls and destroying rat
habitat

Cleaning field surroundings

Guarding young grains against maya birds

Harvesting

Following nature’s signs and doing the work collectively
results in synchronized activities in the fields, which helps
prevent pest build-up. The simultaneous harvesting of rice
cuts the food source of pests, killing or weakening them.
The division of work in traditional rice production is based
on certain criteria. Men usually do the work that needs more
physical strength and women do the more meticulous work
of cleaning stonewalls and weeding rice fields. Irrigation ca-
nal repair is done exclusively by men while rice transplanting
is the women’s domain. Except for these, men and women
share most of the work in rice production.
The rice fields generally supply the rice needs of the commu-
nity for six to eight months (2009 interview). In Tukucan very
few households can harvest rice as the main irrigation system
destroyed by the 1990 earthquake has not been repaired.
Twenty-one rice varieties were recorded in Tinoc: four are
traditional varieties and the remaining 17 (kintoman, balati-
naw, galong, etc.) were acquired from other areas; two (called
Oakland and California) were introduced during the promo-
tion of “miracle rice.” All of these have adapted to the envi-
ronment.
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Food Availability
The traditional calendar of activities shows the season for the
different work in different parts of the ili that provide the
community’s needs. Rice production takes the bulk of yearly
labor allocation followed by work in the inum-an, and the
rest of the time is spent for house construction and repairs,
hunting, fishing, handicrafts, barter, repair of communal irri-
gation, cleaning of pathways; or in short, maintaining the ili.
Such a design allows for labor exchange network building
and for people to be in common areas at the same time where
knowledge in resource management is shared.
In the study areas, the season of plenty under the traditional
subsistence production system falls from July to December
with September as the peak when almost all foods are avail-
able. The staple food is still available in January and Febru-
ary, but a supply shortage starts to be felt in the succeeding
months from March to May.
The calendar (page 62) does not reflect the time when fami-
lies have to maintain three camote farms planted at different
times to be able to have a continuous supply of this tuber.
By making camote available the whole year round, the above
calendar of food availability can be applied to all five study
areas (except for rice supply in Tukucan which for a few
families at present can last only for three months). Honey,
mushrooms and wild fruits have markedly decreased and
near to none in Tukucan and Binablayan.
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Dec





























v
No





























Oct




























Sep
































ug
A





























J
ul





























J
un





























May




























Apr




























Mar




























F
eb



























Jan




























Activities
ance
ation
ainten
storage
ance
elds
est,
Activities
est
ers
Calendar of
Activity
al wage
or
le 8.
T
inu-ul cultiv
Maj
T
ab
Rice production
>> preparation
>> transplanting
>> crop m
>> Harv
>>
Inum-an
>> Clearing
>> Burning
>> Planting
>> Mainten
>> Harv
F
ishing
>> in ricefi
>> in riv
Hunting
House building
Season
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Dec












v
No










Oct










,

August


uly






Sept
e
,
J
un
Aug











le
J
ul












abundant in J
vailab
A
J
un














Month
ear round,
May















Apr




v
ailable whole y












Mar




can be a












F
eb














Jan














v
ailability
A
T
ype
ood
y birds
F
F
ood
ables
ushrooms
ey
le 9.
ild m
ild fruits
T
ab


F
ruits
Rootcrops
V
eget
Corn
Rice
W
W
Hon
Migrator
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Traditional Occupations
People in the study sites engaged in a great variety of occu-
pations in the past. Twenty-five traditional occupations were
recorded including hunting, food gathering, food process-
ing, farming, fishing, pottery, bamboo weaving, barter, salt
making, sugar cane processing, stonewall construction and
broom making. Except for blacksmithing and weaving, raw
materials required for these occupations were found in the
community. Farming, food gathering and food processing
(fermentation, wine making) involved more than 75 percent
of the household, and pottery, blacksmithing, hunting were
considered special skills which involved only a few.
Instead of being developed, some traditional occupations
were abandoned. Salt making was the first to be dropped.
Salt, the people’s first barter product, was extracted from salt
water taken from a natural spring in Ahin and Tukucan and
cooked over firewood. But as the process required a lot of
fuel wood, it was discontinued when salt from the lowlands
reached their villages.
Household engagement in many of these occupations also
lessened due to economic and environmental factors. A
declining forest cover affected food, mushroom and honey
gathering and wild game hunting. Though most males used
to join hunting expeditions after farm work, hunting is now
done only by a small number, as many in the labor force opt
to work outside the village to earn cash. The forest decrease in
Ahin, which started with Heald Lumber Company’s logging
operation (which logged about 1/3 of the forest) reduced
wild game. This later worsened with inum-an expansion and
extension of permanent commercial vegetable farms into for-
est lands in Tukucan, Tulludan and Binablayan.
Stonewall construction in Ahin stopped about 60-80 years
ago although potential areas for rice field expansion still ex-
ist. Maybe the need to expand has not been urgent. With the
series of migrations and evacuations during the headhunting
period, World War II and government homestead program,
population growth has been slow. Table 10 shows the num-
ber of people practicing traditional occupations to date.
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25%






ed by project
50%



viv


No longer practiced
No longer practiced
Estimate % of Practitioners
Recently re
75%


ers
T
erm


age of Practition
ants
English
ving
ation
ercent
ea
al agriculture
ving
aking
ation
y
ea
y raising
erment
ated P
ey gathering
ation
et rice farming
otter
oultr
oodcarving
Hunting
F
ood gathering
Hon
Raising rumin
Rot
W
P
Bamboo w
Cloth w
Pig raising
P
Broom m
Blacksmithing
F
erment
F
ood f
W
e
wan
al Occupations and estim
T
erm
en


a
wan
Local
akan

T
radition
engan/linn
e
w
ag hi banga/Lay
ag ni hagid
le 10.
T
ab
Manduw
Mang-lan m
Mangalan Linn
Manpahtul
Man-inum-an
Man-pay
Man-am
Laga/katih
Abel
Manpakan
Manmegmeg
Man-am
Ladit
Mem-beng
Man-kiwa
Man paut
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


ymore


ymore
Not an
Not an

y
er
aking
y
able farming
ter
e
walling
Salt m
F
ishing in riv
F
ishing in padd
Bar
Ston
V
eget
F
orestr
Sugar processing
ag ni ahin
alat
ag ni Muyung
bel
Man-am
Mangudingan
Mangu
Makihihn
Mantuping
Mangaldin
Mangam
Mandapil
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Productive fishing is only done in Ahin today. The Tukucan-
Wangwang River, which passes through Wangwang and
Binablayan, is heavily silted throughout the year. This has
been its state since 2003 due to erosion and soil runoff from
the road and vegetable farms. Fish in rice fields have signifi-
cantly decreased with the introduction of the golden snail.
Of the 25 traditional occupations, four are no longer prac-
ticed: pottery, sugar making, salt production and weaving.
Hunting, honey and mushroom gathering, fishing, broom
making and bamboo making have declined.
Trends and Challenges
Changes have occurred in the five Tinoc barangays. When
the local people were asked at the start of the study if chang-
es had been positive for them, their immediate answer was
“Yes”. The common reasons were that they no longer had to
hike long distances with the coming of the road, more chil-
dren were going to school, and they did not have to perform
rituals and need not eat camote every day of their lives.
A year after the first interviews were conducted, the data
gathered showed more deep-seated changes in land use and
management.
Decreasing forest cover and biodiversity
The big change came with the entry of commercial vegetable
production (further discussed in the next chapter). The road
network was extended to interior Tinoc in 2003, which has-
tened farm expansion into forestlands as communities gained
more access to markets. Farmlands encroached on forests and
watershed areas, with 35 percent of Tukucan’s watershed be-
ing lost to farms. By 2009 the following estimated decrease in
forest cover was recorded.
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Table 11. Estimated Forest Land Area Converted to Vegetable Farms
Area (ha.)
Percentage Decrease
Tukucan
390
35%
Binablayan
300
50%
Ahin
160
08%
Tulludan
150
50%
While biodiversity may still be rich, some plant and animal
species are diminishing in number. Villagers in the study
areas claimed that certain flora and fauna have disappeared
from their forests although these can still be found in other
villages of Tinoc; the identified biodiversity is down to 20
percent and for certain species, even as low as two percent of
its number in the 1970s.
The opening of vegetable farms in Tukucan and Binablayan,
just like the road construction, has contributed to heavy silt-
ation in the Tukucan-Wangwang River. The river is murky
all throughout the year, and some fish species have disap-
peared. In Tukucan two out of the seven streams have dried
up.
Another threat to forest biodiversity is the coming of the
chainsaw. Some chainsaw owners sell lumber and its use
is expected to increase the exploitation of pine tree stands.
While this violates customary law that prohibits cutting trees
for sale, this however has not been deemed an issue in Ti-
noc.
In the same vein, the introduction of guns in hunting, which
was the first notable change in forest resource management,
has enabled gun owners to hunt more and to sell game meat.
The popularization of guns around the 80s came at a time
when people were starting to feel the increasing need for cash.
With this development, most hunters gradually abandoned
the obligation to share their hunt and were more inclined
to sell it. In the traditional way, hunters usually hunted in
groups with non-destructive devices and adhered to the gen-
eral season for hunting.
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Also, while medicinal herbs still abound and people still
know their medicinal value, these are rarely used. People
now rely more on hospitals and western medicine, and this is
increasingly taking up a bigger chunk of their expenditures.
Vanishing inum-an crops
Farm productivity has markedly declined in both the payew
and inum-an. Respondents estimated that harvests have
lessened by about one-third to one-half of what they were
50 years ago. They traced this to soil fertility depletion and
increase in pests, blamed on weakening traditional manage-
ment of farm lands, synchronized activities and collective
labor.
While the communities of Ahin and Wangwang have been
able to keep most of their inum-an and continue to cultivate
these, Binablayan and Tulludan have started converting
them to commercial vegetable farms. The worst case is Tu-
kucan. About 90 percent of its inum-an lands have become
monocrop vegetable areas, even extending to forest lands
and front and back yards of house lots. The villagers are now
greatly dependent on these vegetable farms for their liveli-
hood.
The gradual disappearance of the inum-an means the gradu-
al disappearance of crops grown in these areas. As the elder
and leader Ama Biaw lamented the vanishing inum-an:
I know that my villagemates solely depend on the money they
get from the sale of their produce from vegetable gardens. I
also know well that more often than not, the price of vegeta-
bles fluctuates. Now that we don’t have our inum-an, where
do they get their food? While life was hard in the past, we did
not experience a situation where we could not produce food for
a meal. We always had our camote.
Camote has been replaced by rice as the main staple. The
widespread notion is that commercial vegetable production
has brought a better quality of life, as people can eat more
rice unlike in the past when camote was the staple. Viewed
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as an inferior crop and a poor man’s diet, the bias against
camote may also have stemmed from formal education.
When a student does poorly in school or does something
the teacher disapproves of, s/he is sometimes told: “You are
good for nothing so better go and plant camote (instead of
attending school).”
Yet in truth camote has a far richer nutrition content.
Camote farm in rotational agricultural area.
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5.3
2.3
.7
.7
.4
13.6
.03
.41
Dry
100.0
4.0
otato
resh
1.0
.5
2.6
.10
.08
F
Irish P
Gabi stems
F
resh
19.0
?
?
.2
4.2
5.7
7.9
1.1
1.5
Dry
100.0
v
es
9.0
am
resh
Y
?
?

1.1
1.4
2.0
Gabi lea
F
25.9
F
resh
4.5
3.6
5.7
.14
.25
7.70
17.39
22.38
Dry
100.0
va
91.73
Gabi
Cassa
1.2
.9
1.5
.04
.07
Sun cured
26.0
F
resh
3.1
2.7
2.1
.16
.19
86.0
10.0
11.0
29.1
erent Rootcrops
100.0
va
Dry
.9
.9
Sun cured
Cassa
1.1
.06
.07
33
35.0
F
resh
es)
Camote
27.0
2.5
2.9
7.8
3.7
2.9
2.9
.10+
.15+
Dry
100.0
F
resh
or the Philippin
Camote
.9
.9
30.0
1.1
ables f
.03+
.04+
F
resh
v
es

Nutrient Content/Chemical Composition of Diff
iber
iber
eed composition t
atter
Lea
atter
F
le 12.
y m
y m
T
ubers
Dr
Ash
Crude F
Protein
Calcium
Phosphorus
Dr
Ash
Crude F
Protein
T
ab
(Source:
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Some camote varieties, particularly yellow and red ones, are
particularly high in carotene or vitamin A, and camote leaves
are rich in essential vitamins and Iron. Calorie yield and raw
food per acre of camote is twice the caloric content of maize
and six times its yield under a wide range of natural and ag-
ronomic conditions.
The significant decrease of areas for inum-an in Tukucan
has directly affected food supply. Where before, people
could have diverse foods from the swidden farms, today
they mainly rely on what they can buy from the market and
grocery. The 20 swidden crops have been reduced to five
major temperate vegetables, e.g., carrots, cabbage, potatoes,
Chinese cabbage and green beans. But households who raise
these usually do not eat them, as they know these have been
sprayed with harmful pesticides.
The inum-an has long augmented much of the food and
nutritional needs of the family. It has served as a fallback
in times of crop failures in the pond paddy and as a “risk
evasion” strategy, being a mixture and rotation of different
crops. Awareness raising is needed to reverse the trend of
rising vegetable cultivation for the market and decreasing
production of diverse food crops for the community.
Lower Rice Production
Rice productivity has also declined as revealed in the follow-
ing statements.
Since I was big enough to go to the rice fields, I always went
with my siblings and parents when there was no class. All
household members old enough to work the land are obliged to
help in all activities of rice production. It is also a kind of play
for a child, with the rice field as a playground, which becomes
work if one has to finish the tasks. After the palay was dried,
we piled them in the granary, and we put a marker on the
wall to indicate where the rice pile reached. My mother’s rice
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granary would be filled up to the top. That was about 10-12
years ago. The harvest now can not fill up the granary.
Fraulin Francisco, 27, Tuludan, local researcher
I remember 30 years ago when I walked with my mother along
the paddy ponds in the month of May; the bowed rice plants
full of grain would get in the way. Comparing the yield then
and now, I can say it has decreased by about one-third.
Vilma Caoili, village councilor, Ahin
While the study was not able to establish production per unit
area, most respondents claimed that current production as
compared to 10-20 years ago has decreased by more than
one-third due to the interplay of factors. The growing need
for cash (for education, health and other basic needs) forces
able-bodied household members to seek outside paid labor
after farm work has been completed, i.e., just after harvest or
transplanting. More often, women, children and the elderly
are left in the community, assuming the responsibilities of
those who left. The quality of farm work usually declines,
and other activities are discontinued. The practice of tinu-
ol is neglected, reducing soil quality as green manuring is
limited to the immediate vicinity of rice fields.
With scarce labor, the ubbo labor network is difficult to or-
ganize for the farm tasks, leaving each family to cope on its
own with the workload. In the past, almost all phases of rice
farming was done through ubbo of men or women; today col-
lective labor is limited to harvesting and transplanting. This
disrupts synchronized activities and delays rice planting.
Dependence on chemical inputs and growing indebtedness
Commercial vegetable farming has led not only to conversion
of inum-an and forest lands but also to monocrop cultiva-
tion that is dependent on chemical farm inputs and certified
vegetable seeds that cannot be reproduced. To engage in it,
people need capital and have to be part of the financial sys-
tem that places farmers in a viscous cycle of indebtedness.
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The adoption of commercial vegetable farming differs in
the five study areas. Ahin and Wangwang have gone back
to more traditional subsistence farming after farmers went
bankrupt at the height of vegetable importation in 2001-2002.
Binablayan and Tulludan are in an interphase; they converted
some inum-an areas and parts of their watershed to commer-
cial vegetable farms but have kept parts of their inum-an and
all their rice fields. Tukucan by 2008 had been completely
entrenched in the commercial vegetable production system.
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PART 3
Commercial Vegetable Production
and its Effects on Community Wellbeing:
The Case of Tukucan
In today’s global marketplace, no stone goes unturned. Where
there is commercial value, there is profit to be made. However,
as entrepreneurs scour the world in search of new commodi-
ties, a voice of dissent is growing and striving to be heard.
That voice belongs to the indigenous peoples, and it is a voice
that has been ignored long enough.
Beyond Intellectual Property Rights:
Toward Traditional Resource Rights for Indigenous
Peoples and Local Communities (1996)
Notions of Wellbeing
To the Kalanguya of Tinoc, adequate food, clothing and shel-
ter are the main components of wellbeing, but these are inter-
linked with other factors and other aspects of community life,
such as culture, values and capacities, and these are expressed
repeatedly in their traditional prayers and day-to-day living.
The Kalanguya pray for good health for people and animals,
for bountiful harvests, for a community life that is clean and
pure as the fresh water of springs. They pray that people and
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animals are granted the capacity to be able to combat sick-
ness and disease. Ingrained as social values and obligations
are participation in community occasions and celebrations,
helping someone in need and living in harmony with one’s
fellowmen and nature, and thus the need to appease spirits
in the natural world whenever they are offended.
For sustenance and wellbeing, the Kalanguya have devel-
oped and sustained a low-energy lifestyle from a sound
management and utilization of the resources and biodiver-
sity of their environment. They were able to discover and
innovate through time the knowledge and skills on sustain-
able production of food (from wet-rice cultivation to rainfed
rotational agriculture including wild food collection from
natural habitats), fabrication of tools and household items
through blacksmithing and woodcarving, house construc-
tion, weaving, pottery and the beginnings of agro-processing
(sugar cane processing, fermentation). To a large extent and
over a long period of time, they have relied on what their
territory and biodiversity could provide for sustenance and
wellbeing.
Unfortunately, like many developing communities, these
knowledge and skills did not get the needed support to de-
velop to their full potential. Instead, like many indigenous
peoples, some of the Kalanguya in Tinoc have increasingly
been subsumed into the market economy, gradually veering
away from traditional lifeways and occupations. In the 1980s
commercial vegetable farming came to Tukucan and since
then changes have occurred in their land use and manage-
ment that have adversely impacted on their wellbeing.34
Tukucan: Changing Landscape
Tukucan is located on the boundary of Ifugao and Benguet
provinces and borders the Cordillera’s highest peak, Mount
Pulag. The barangay has seven sitios, namely, Cocoy, Lama,
Pakawan, Amdalaggan, Hanil, Huyuktu and Ababba (Tuku-
can Proper).
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T
ukucan
Map of
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Located around 50 kilometers from the capital town of
Lagawe, Tukucan is accessible from three major entry points:
1) from Hungduan via barangay Wangwang; 2) from the
poorly maintained Buguias-Mansuyusoy feeder road; and
3) from Poblacion Tinoc via barangay Eheb. While the first
two can be reached by truck or a 4-wheel drive, the more
common mode is by foot as no commuter rides go through
these routes.
Mount Mansuyusuy, the highest mountain peak in Tukucan
at 2,523 meters above sea level, serves as the natural bound-
ary of Tukucan and Buguias, Benguet. The village terrain
is generally mountainous with slopes from 50 percent and
above except in Ababba, which is more or less a plateau
that gradually ascends on the southern part. Surrounded by
mountains and almost enclosed by two major rivers, Ababba
serves as the settlement and farming areas.
The village population is almost evenly distributed between
males and females. The dependent population makes up the
majority (51.9%), with a significant number (18.9%) belong-
ing to the vulnerable sector below six years old. This leaves
the labor force at less than half or 48.1% of the total popula-
tion (CBMS 2009).
Figure 7. Population Distribution according to Sitio and Gender
CBMS 2009
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The villagers have access to ru-
dimentary education and health
Tukucan’s population
increased by 11% from
services. An elementary school
910 to 1,023 between
with a staff of six teachers and
2001 and 2009. This
a principal grew out of the first
is distributed over 199
Tukucan primary school built in
households at an aver-
1948. Classes for grades 1 and
age size of five persons.
2 have also been set up in sitios
Hanil and Cocoy. A rural health clinic, manned by a midwife,
dispenses basic health services and common medicines sold
at lower prices are available at a Botika sa Barangay (phar-
macy in the barrio).
The road and attendant changes came to Tukucan in the
1970s. From 1977-1979 the Department of Public Works and
Highways constructed the Bad-ayan-Tukucan road up to sitio
Hanil, and in 1987 extended it to Tukucan Proper, but it was
not operational until 1996 when it was paved with gravel.
Other physical infrastructure in the village are footbridges
constructed in some sitios, and waterworks built through a
European Union-funded project including water impound-
ing tanks purposely erected for vegetable farms. Just above
the settlement in Ababba is the Ambakba sulfur spring, with
other outlets along the river banks. While commonly used for
therapeutic and curative treatment of skin ailments, the hot
springs also have the potential to be developed for geothermal
energy.
Traditional Land Use and Biodiversity
The people traditionally managed their village land accord-
ing to the eight land uses discussed in the previous chapter:
1) bel-ew or watershed, 2) kiyewan or woodlot, 3) inum-an or
rotational agriculture areas, 4) payew or ricefields, 5) pahtu or
grassland, 6) wangwang or outflowing rivers, 7) homesites or
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pan-abungan, and 8) dayahan, a space near the homesite where
pigs are left to roam freely to scavenge for food.
The bel-ew is mossy forest and the kiyewan has shrublands
and pine and mossy forests. Two major rivers, Wangwang
and Malanas, converge on the eastern portion of the baran-
gay, flowing towards Binablayan to join the Ahin river. Seven
streams, which are tributaries of these two rivers, drain the
entire village, most of the water coming from Mount Man-
suyusuy, which derives its name from the cold winds that
prevail throughout the year.
Up to the 1970s, Tukucan had a rich biodiversity in these dif-
ferent parts of the village, as evidenced by the many variet-
ies of plants and animals identified by the people as shown
below:
Vine
Uses
Herb
Uses
1. Lilihig
medicine
1. Bangbangtit
mint plant
2. Hapluda
fruit, medicine
2. Pinagiwa
for vinegar
3. Biduh-lak
tea, medicine
3. Ngangay
for vinegar
4. Bag-ih
medicine
4. Kawan
medicine
5. Da-el
medicine
5. Lagiway
medicine
6. Kakalung
handicraft
6. Pit-pitok
medicine
7. Iyep
food, fruit
7. Kamhit
medicine
8. Batanak
food, fruit
8. Anwad
medicine
9. Hithit
weeds, medicine
10. Opey
pesticide
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Grass
Uses
Shrubs
Uses
1. Handiku
food
1. Kape
coffee
2. Dampagan
medicine
2. Lantana
medicine
3. Pudapod
medicine
3. Hapal
medicine
4. Pugo-pugo
medicine
4. Kalamansi
medicine
5. Kalawag
medicine
5. Balangbang
medicine
6. Tanglag
handicraft
6. Gipas
medicine
7. Gulon
house roof
7. Talugtug
tea
8. Puwen
house roof
8. Bangbanghit
medicine
9. Telneg
medicine
9. Batikil
medicine
10. Putputud
medicine
10. Buyut/Pinit
food
11. Bang-ngaw
medicine
11. Bagti
medicine
12. Kattayan
necklace
12. Beket
(poisonous)
13. Nagey
useless grass
13. Leleteng

14. Kiltwagang
wrapper
15. Balay
wrapper
Table 13. Plants and their Uses
Still from the wilds, four kinds of bamboo (kawayan, katlu-
bong, bika, anes) were available as were 20 species of mush-
room, which except for two, were all edible; 51 species of
birds, eight of which were migratory, and classified as small,
medium and large; eight species of wild animals and seven
of honey bees. Forty-seven tree species were identified and
classified according to use: fruit-bearing, water-bearing,
lumber, fuel, for making tools, for house building, and for
carving kitchen utensils, spoons, bowls, containers and other
household items.
Up to 2000, the people also cultivated different food crops in
their farms, including four kinds of rootcrops—yam, sweet
potatoes, cassava and taro; two kinds of legume—peas (pi-
geon pea, cow pea) and a variety of beans (black, white and
red beans, rice beans); fruits and betel nut. For staple foods,
the study documented 21 varieties of rice and 11 varieties of
sweet potato in Tinoc, which can be readily available in the
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barangay as people do seed exchange within their communi-
ties and with neighboring villages every planting season.
All of the abovecited crops, except for rice, were also planted
on homelots, intercropped with forest trees and plants. Back-
yard pigs and chickens were raised for family consumption,
rituals and sometimes to be sold for cash to meet family
needs.
Resource Management and Customary Law
To secure food and other basic needs, almost all the people
engaged in farming and seasonal work based on skills, e.g.,
bamboo weaving, cloth weaving, food preservation, wood-
carving, among others. Resources were used but at the same
time conservation measures were practiced such as: 1) no
cutting of trees and opening of farms in watershed areas; 2)
selective and regulated cutting of trees in the kiyewan; 3) no
use of poison and other destructive fishing methods; 4) selec-
tive and seasonal hunting.
Sustainable food production, while not included as custom
law, was followed religiously until about 10 to 15 years ago.
This included: 1) erosion protection measures (stonewalling);
2) soil fertility maintenance and enhancement such as green
manuring; 3) fallowing; 4) practice of tinu-ol or getting most
of the soil in the paddy pond out of water-logged condition,
thus improving it, and sun drying of the rice paddy from
time to time; and 5) collective work to maintain irrigation
canals every year.
Changes in Land Use Pattern
“The greatest threat to biological diversity lies in its replace-
ment by alternative systems of land use. This often arises
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through market distortions, which undervalue natural
systems and populations and provide perverse incentives
and subsidies to favour the conversion of land to less diverse
systems.”
SBSTTA report, CBD COP 9
This was what happened to Tukucan.
Growing need for cash
Even with its rich biodiversity, the land could not provide
for all the community’s needs, but they had surplus products
like chickens, pigs, coffee and several varieties of legumes
that they bartered for iron utensils, salt and clothing. They
made wooden tools and most of their kitchen utensils, using
specific trees for specific items. Sugar and lard were luxury
items that they could do without if not available. For treating
the sick, they used herbal plants and the traditional priest
performed rituals and rites to appease spirits, unseen beings
or dead ancestors believed to be causing the sickness. Educa-
tion after primary school, which the young had to get outside
the village as none was obtainable in the community, was
rarely pursued.
But through time people aspired for other needs that were
more than what their environment could provide. Foremost
was rice, which became a popular food, and higher education
which was encouraged among young people. High school
students had to leave the village, as there was no secondary
school in the community. In the absence of a road, hauling of
food from farms and the 4-hour hike to school were difficult,
making cash a preferred choice.
The growing need for cash forced more and more people
to seek work outside the village. Almost all those who left
Tukucan went to work on farms in Benguet’s agricultural
towns, the Cordillera’s vegetable belt. The rising number of
students and adults leaving the community reduced labor
availability, resulting in an erosion of traditional practices
in food production. This was visible in the cultivation of
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rotational farm areas. The precautionary measures of kinkin
or creation of firebreaks weakened significantly. Rampant
forest fires became a common phenomenon, transforming
mossy forests to secondary pine forests.
Another way by which the people earned cash was cultiva-
tion of cash crops, especially sweet peas, which flourished
from the 80s to the mid-90s. A choice crop, sweet peas fetched
a higher price than other vegetables, ranging from P15-P25/
kilo to as high as P60/kilo. The production of sweet peas
throughout the 80s continued to use the traditional system,
utilizing local seeds and organic fertilizers (ash of moun-
tain vegetation and forest soil). While synthetic fertilizers
and pesticides were introduced, these were used in limited
amounts.
In 1996 the full implementation of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade flooded the market with cheap imported
vegetables from neighboring countries such as China and
Malaysia. This dragged prices down which severely affected
Cordillera farmers including those in Tukucan.
Entry of road and Green Revolution
The road reached Tukucan in 1996, making farm inputs and
markets more accessible. Almost immediately the whole
package of the green revolution was adopted. This entailed
the commercial production of vegetables with the use of
certified seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides produced
by multinational companies that farmers bought from urban
retail stores from as far as Baguio and Trinidad some 120 ki-
lometers away. They learned of this farm technology in their
seasonal outmigration to Benguet’s vegetable farms.
To adopt this new farming technology, cash was needed
which the farmers of Tukucan did not have. This need was
filled by financiers from neighboring Bot-owan village who
supplied farmers with chemical farm inputs. In 2000, a back-
hoe owner arrived in Tukucan, offering his equipment to
open new lands to cultivate.
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Financing schemes and new tools for clearing land
The farmers became dependent on the backhoe owner and
financiers, using their lands as collateral for loans. Mortgage
and sale of lands became prevalent and, for some, grew so
acute that one farmer went against custom law and sold his
land to an outsider (see box).
Custom Law on Land
Among the Kalanguya, “land ownership” which is the right to
be the main steward of a certain piece of land is earned by an
individual only through investing labor to make permanent im-
provements on the land, like building stone walls and planting
permanent crops such as trees and hedgerow to control erosion
in sloping areas. Others raise pigs or enjoin community members
to construct a farm for him in exchange for meat or free meals.
Since simple tools were then used, it took months and even years
for one to make permanent improvements on the land. This has
served as a regulatory mechanism for “controlled” ownership, as
one owns land based on his capacity to make it productive.
Everyone in the community knows the hard work required in im-
proving the land, hence it has been a code of conduct not to sell
one’s inheritance. In case one has to sell, she/he should offer it
first to her/his siblings. If no one among them is interested, it is
presented to blood relatives and then to any member of the com-
munity. Custom law forbids the selling of land to outsiders.
This custom law was firmly enforced when a resident of Tukucan
was forced to sell his land to an outsider to repay a debt. The
buyer cleared the land but started to expand his farm into the
forest. This prompted the elders to intervene, stopping him from
extending his landholdings and encroaching on forest land. They
upheld the law that keeps the lands of the village for the primary
and sole use of the community.
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As commercial vegetable production increased, so did clear-
ing of new areas including forest lands. As a response, the
Barangay/Village Council passed a resolution on October
21, 2002 reiterating that watersheds are protected areas. The
resolution35 identified the protected forest zones and water-
shed areas of Tukucan, which constituted about 95 percent
of the watershed at that time. Unfortunately, the resolution
failed to curtail farm encroachment into these areas.
The SARS (Severe Respiratory Acute Syndrome) outbreak in
Asia in 2003, which reduced vegetable importation, resulted
in price stability of temperate clime vegetables. More finan-
ciers from neighboring villages used this opportunity to ex-
pand their business in Tukucan. They offered pre-financing
schemes to farmers, whereby they supplied all needed farm
inputs and the land owner provided labor. For people who
did not have readily available land, they were offered the
use of the backhoe and if they did not have the cash to pay,
their land was placed under the management of the backhoe
owner for up to five years.
Another backhoe was brought into Tukucan in 2005 by a
man who married a local woman. The equipment could level
a hectare of sloping forest land in eight days, which would
take a person about 18 months or more to do manually. In
the latter method however valuable topsoil can be retained,
which some people carefully segregate in safe areas to be
used during planting time; a backhoe completely wastes it.
The adoption of market-oriented, chemical-based monocrop
farming resulted in a rapid change from the traditional land
use pattern. The following Table shows land use in the 1970s
as recalled by the villagers and the current state as recorded
by a July 26, 2009 3-D map of Tukucan.
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Table 14. Land Area according to Land Use in 1970, 2009
Area in Hectares
Land Use
1970
July 2009
Difference
Bel-ew
1,108.73
717.65
(391.08)
Kiyewan
250.00
497.28
247.28
Uma
695.00
67.40
(627.60)
Payew
42.01
42.01
-
Inum-an

698.85
698.85
Pan-abungan
53.00
110.23
57.23
Pahtu
250.00
265.32
15.32
Total
2,398.74
2,398.74

From the 1970s to 2009, the forest cover decreased signifi-
cantly, with the watershed being reduced by 391.08 hectares;
and the inum-an, by 627.60 hectares. In the 70s, forested ar-
eas composed the entirety of the bel-ew, kiyewan and some
inum-an that had reverted to a forest (broad leaf primary
mossy forest), constituting more than 66 percent of the to-
tal land area. By 2009, this had been reduced to 50 percent,
which while still above the 40 percent DENR requirement, is
low in quality as the wooded area is now dominated by pine
savanna.
Impacts of Changes in Land Use
These changes in land use have greatly impacted on land ten-
ure, biodiversity, ecosystems services, occupations and the
wellbeing of the community.
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Land security
For land held in common, all people in Tukucan have equal
access based on their capacity to work the land. All house-
holds have usufruct rights and thus can be owner tillers of
lands they improve. But the use of the backhoe has hastened
the privatization of lands, and the use of land as loan col-
lateral is likely to lead to its accumulation by the few who
have the capital.
The privatization of lands in the rotational agricultural areas,
some parts of the watershed and wood lots, comprising about
1, 000 hectares or nearly 50 percent of the barangay area, has
changed the collective ownership of lands. The privatized
lands are no longer subject to custom law on sustainable use,
as each individual “owner” can use the land according to his
own discretion without having to consider the community’s
interest.
Table 15. Number of Landowners according to Land Area Owned
Land Area Owned
No. of HH Owners
less than 1 hectare
143
more than 1 to 3 hectares
41
more than 3 hectares
1
No answer
7
Total
192
CBMS, February 2009
Based on a 2009 CBMS survey, a big majority (74%) of Tuku-
can households have landholdings of about one hectare; and
42, more than two hectares (7 did not respond). With these
data, only 228 hectares are accounted for, leaving unclear the
ownership of the remaining 470 hectares.
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Biodiversity and ecosystems services
The marked decrease in forest cover also destroyed natural
wild life habitats, cutting the abundance and diversity of
flora and fauna. As shown in Table 16, one kind of honey
bee and three bird species are no longer seen in the area; and
the number of species and varieties of trees, herbs, birds,
mushrooms, grass and ferns have dropped to 5-50 percent
from their numbers in the 70s. Aside from the observable
destruction of natural habitats, tools for hunting have also
changed—from traditional spears, traps and slingshots to
today’s air guns and guns—further diminishing the number
of animals and birds.
Table 16. Decrease in Identified Flora and Fauna in Tukucan, August 2009

Number
Identified
Decrease
Trees
35
all reduced by 50%
Herbs
8
reduced to about 20%
Wild animals
8
4 not seen anymore
Endemic Bird species
47
3 species not seen anymore;
others reduced to 5 to 10%
Migratory birds
8

Wild mushrooms
18
reduced to 15%
Honey bees
3
reduced to only 5%
1 species not seen anymore
Grasses
14
8 of these reduced to 10%
Ferns
3
reduced to 30%
Focus group discussion, August 2009
With reduced biodiversity, the use of herbal home remedies
for treatment of common illnesses has also lessened while
increasing people’s reliance on hospital services and medical
care that are available only outside the village.
The shrinking forest cover has already taken a toll on the
village’s watersheds. In one part of Tukucan where the wa-
tershed was completely destroyed, two creeks (of 7 major
creeks) have dried up.
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Soil nutrient recycling is also threatened by the use of syn-
thetic pesticides and fertilizers, which harden the soil. This
has prompted farmers to increase over time the volume of
fertilizers used to produce the desired yield. But rather than
spend more for fertilizers, many opt to open new forests for
cultivation.
Pig raising in the community has relied on the forest for ad-
ditional feed. Pigs are fed just once a day and let loose to find
food on their own. Forests near homelots have been a source
of sustenance, but this has become a thing of the past.
If not arrested, the village may lose more of its ecosystems
services. Before the entry of commercial vegetable growing,
the people depended on their ili, and much of their decision-
making on production was related to what it could provide.
Nowadays, decision-making is slowly being taken away from
farmers who are getting more involved in chemical vegetable
production as a main livelihood.
Food security
The boom in the vegetable industry after 2003 completed
the change in the production system of the village. From
one mainly dependent on local resources, Tukucan residents
embraced a production system highly reliant on the market
—for farm inputs, for distribution of produce and for their
food and other needs.
Notable are the changes in the food/diet of the villagers. In
the past, a diverse variety of food produced by the house-
hold was available for their consumption: rootcrops such as
camote, taro, yam, cassava; green leafy vegetables such as
Chinese cabbage, mustard, sayote shoots, onion leeks, other
vegetables such as squash, beans and peas of different kinds
and varieties, eggplants, string beans, cereals such as rice and
corn, fruits such as bananas, pineapples, avocado, pomelo,
rattan. Food was mostly available throughout the year. Wild
game and wild fruits, vegetables and mushrooms could be
collected during the lean season for their own consumption
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or bartered for rice; there was also camote that could be re-
lied on during lean months.
Table 17. Food Availability in a Year
Food Type
Month Available

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fruits




      
Rootcrop
 





   
Vegetables
can be available whole year round, abundant in June, July,
August
Corn







 


Rice




  
Wild
mushrooms








   
Wild fruits






     
Honey





   


Migratory
birds








  
Shells
Available year round but mainly collected during land
preparation, transplanting (Sept-Feb)
Fish
Available year round but fishing is mainly done during off
farm work (Mar-May)
With the transformation in land use, i.e., commercial vegeta-
bles dominating the agricultural landscape, food intake has
drastically altered. The more common fare now are meat, fro-
zen fish transported from other areas, canned goods, noodles
and vegetables produced by a few who still cultivate swid-
dens and commercial vegetables that had not been sprayed
with inorganic pesticide.
The limited food sources appear to be affecting people’s
health, especially among children who have been observed
to be more prone to sickness. However, an in depth study
is needed to determine the specific effects of chemical-based
farming on the health of residents.
Although respondents agreed that food quality in the village
has deteriorated, the widespread perception in the commu-
nity is that life today is much better with the availability of
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cash generated by the vegetable industry. On closer exami-
nation, however, except for bigger houses built of cement
and galvanized iron, incomes have not greatly improved.
The CBMS 2009 survey recorded 64.82 percent of Tukucan
households as below the poverty threshold.
In a validation workshop, some people in Ahin, which has
held onto its traditional food production system, strongly
objected to the 74 percent poverty rate finding in their village
after being told of the P15,500/year poverty threshold. They
declared that they eat three times a day and the value of the
food they eat from their farms, rivers and forests for a year
is definitely more than P15,500, and thus on this basis they
could not be considered poor. Their only problem is how
to meet cash needs for other basic needs such as education,
medicine and health care.
In comparison, community members in Tukucan readily ac-
cepted the level of poverty incidence in their village.
Customary law on resource use
In the past, strong solidarity was manifested in discipline
and desistance from committing acts against persons and
property. Although unwritten, custom law was generally
and strictly adhered to, and disciplinary action the elders im-
posed was respected and followed. Documented customary
law on crime against property, acts of lasciviousness, sexual
opportunism and adultery have clear penalty or disciplinary
action for specific cases. But the same appears to be absent in
violations concerning sustainable resource use, and this has
been attributed to lack of information and of specific cases.
Until recently, people firmly observed customary law on sus-
tainable use, and where lapses occurred these did not usually
merit a case.
Violations became significant by the mid-90s. Farm conver-
sion that extended to protected areas was a new phenom-
enon that, along with various religious sects that arrived,
weakened traditional community solidarity and unity. It also
eroded the role of elders who gave up much of their power to
PART 3: Commercial Vegetable Production
92

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elected village officials. Forest encroachment started in 2000
but it was only in 2010 that one village, Eheb, penalized a
perpetrator of forest destruction.
Commercial Farming and Incomes
Traditional food production requires from ½ to 1 hectare.
Considering that the majority of Tukucan households have
landholdings of less than a hectare, they should be able to
earn a good income from commercial vegetable farming. But
a look at the production of cabbage, among the most com-
monly grown vegetable, indicates that rather than ensure
economic security, commercial farming places farmers at
risk of falling into debt.
Table 18. Production Input for Cabbage Production on .5 Hectare of Land36
Item
Quantity
Unit
Price/
Unit
Cost
Seeds
150
grams
P 630.00 P 630.00
Fertilizers
>> Chicken Dung
60
sacks
150.00 9,000.00
>> Triple 14
3
sacks
1,120.00 3,360.00
>> Foliar
2
sacks
200.00
400.00
Pesticides
>> Bida (egges)
1
380.00
380.00
>> Binus (Anti DB)
1 to 2
bottles
1,160.00 1,740.00
>> Penant (beetles)
1
liter
570.00
570.00
Herbicide (Geomox-
one)
1
liter
425.00
425.00
Fungicide/dithane
2
bags
520.00 1,040.00
>> Antraxo
2
bags
480.00
960.00
>> Bilathone
1
box
700.00
700.00
Subtotal



P19,205
Labor



P14,550
Total



P33,755
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From farmers’ common experience, the average cabbage yield
on ½ hectare is 14.5 tons, and this can go as high as 18 tons
or as low as 11 tons depending on various factors. In terms
of price, a kilo of cabbage can fetch P15.00 on the average,
or a high of P39.00 and a low of P8.00. Given production ex-
penses as shown in Table 18, a farmer can make a net income
of about P133,000 in one cropping if the price of cabbage is
P15/k or P44,000 at a low P8/k (Table 19). Given a fair price
a household can earn an average of some P22,000.00 a month
and more if the prices go up. However, of 5-6 croppings in a
year, farmers can usually chance on a good price only once
or twice.
Table 19. Average Income from Cabbage Production (.5 ha) at P15/k and
P8/k
Gross sales
Volume
Less
Expenses
Income
P217,500 (P15/kg x 14,500kgs)
P84,505.00
P132,995.00
116,000
(P 8/kg x 14,500kgs)
72,255.00
43,745.00

176,740.00
Average income per cropping
88,370.00
Average income per month
22,092.50
Price fluctuations are frequent in the vegetable industry, and
cabbage prices are the most unstable, sometimes dropping
to as low as P3.00/kg when there is an oversupply from
vegetable importation. Given transport cost at P3.30/kg, the
vegetables are better left to rot in the field, usually causing
the farmer a loss of more than P30,000.00 in capital invest-
ment.
Because of price instability, indebtedness among farmers is
said to be widespread, and some are merely farming to be
able to pay debts to financiers or suppliers. Farmers have to
contend with the common practice of pasuplay, a financing
scheme where a financier/trader provides all the needed
farm inputs, and in return, the farmer is obliged to sell all his
produce to him. From the gross sales, the farmer has to pay
back all items the former provided, and this includes fertil-
PART 3: Commercial Vegetable Production
94

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izers, pesticides and rice for his consumption. After deduct-
ing expenses, the financier gets 30 percent-50 percent of the
remaining sales and the rest goes to the farmer. Most farmers
are dependent on such financiers who extend the needed
capitalization.
This problem is also due as much to dependence on agro-
chemical inputs that are required in commercial vegetable
farming and have to be purchased from outside the commu-
nity. In cabbage production on .5 hectare, P19,205 or 22.56
percent of total expenses goes to the purchase of synthetic
fertilizers and pesticides. For carrot production, farmers have
to spend some P34,350 for agrochemical inputs, comprising
almost 34 percent of production costs in one cropping.
Table 20. Expenditures for Cabbage Production (.5 ha)
Farm Input
Cost
%
Seeds
630.00
0.74
Agro-chemicals
19,205.00
22.56
Labor
14,550.00
17.09
Transport
50,750.00
59.61

85,135.00
100.00
Table 21. Expenditures for Carrot Production Costs (.5 ha)
Farm Input
Cost
%
Seeds
1,680.00
1.64
Agro-chemicals
34,350.00
33.55
Labor
33,000.00
32.23
Transport
24,675.00
24.10
102,385.00
100.00
Table 22. Annual Expenses for Agro-chemicals in Cabbage and Carrot Pro-
duction (300 has)
Annual Expenses on Agro-Chemicals
Crops Grown
1/2 hectare
1 hectare
150 hectares
Cabbage
38,410.00
76,820.00
11,523,000.00
Carrots
68,700.00
137,400.00
20,610,000.00
107,110.00
214,220.00
32,133,000.00
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If on 300 hectares of land in Tukucan,37 150 hectares were
planted to cabbage and the other half to carrots, the invest-
ment for agrochemicals would reach around P32.133 million
in one year. This is an enormous expenditure that all flows
out of the community. It also means an immense poisoning
of the land, water and food.
PART 3: Commercial Vegetable Production
96

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PART 4
Work in Progress
Customary Sustainable Resource Use and Ecosystems
Approach
The persistent and effective participation of indigenous peo-
ples for recognition of their rights in various forms and on
different levels has led to a series of landmark victories, the
highest point of which was the adoption by the United Na-
tions of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
on September 13, 2007. Earlier than this and equally important
are Articles 8j and 10c of the Convention on Biological Diver-
sity on promotion of traditional knowledge and customary
sustainable use and the adoption of the ecosystems approach
as the framework in attaining the objectives of biodiversity
conservation, sustainable resource use and equitable sharing
of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
But such recognition and provisions are meaningless for in-
digenous peoples and advocates if these are not implemented
on the ground. Both groups thus continue to work towards
ensuring these are translated into actions to free indigenous
communities from their marginalized situation so they are
able to enjoy fully their rights as citizens and as indigenous
peoples. Piloting the ecosystems approach in Ifugao is one
PART 4: Work in Progress
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such effort. It is as well an attempt to link international and
state recognition of indigenous peoples’ capacities to fa-
cilitate processes that enhance their initiatives to chart their
own development within the framework of the ecosystems
approach and indigenous peoples’ rights.
The first year of piloting the ecosystems approach in Tinoc,
Ifugao has brought to fore valuable lessons and realizations.
Foremost is that the Kalanguya, like other Igorot peoples in
the Cordillera, have long practiced the ecosystems approach
in their customary use and management of resources. As
shown by the project research, the Kalanguya have a high
level of understanding of their environment and practice of
ecological ethics. These are manifested in their complex and
integrated use of distinct land forms in their territory that
creates a balanced ecosystem and protects the web of life.
From each of the land uses emerges a distinct set of biodi-
versity—from the forest to the river, woodlot, rice field,
rotational agricultural area and even the space around the
house lot. Around 91 percent of the plants and animals iden-
tified by community members in the pilot areas are naturally
occurring organisms. The research has not gone into direct
inventory, limiting its scope to the knowledge of informants
who focused on plants and animals that they use. Notable is
the non-inclusion of the different kinds of orchids and other
flowering plants that abound in the area.
The Kalanguya system of sustainable resource use is gov-
erned by customary law and strengthened by their social and
political institutions. All watersheds for instance are commu-
nal, and no one can cut down trees, farm or enter sacred sites
within, thus ensuring a wide habitat for animals and plants.
The use of resources within the watershed, such as water,
wild game and herbs, are largely shared with other tribes or
groups. While no law governs food gathering and collection,
these are usually done in certain seasons, allowing for regen-
eration of flora and fauna.
The benefits derived from the Kalanguya’s resource manage-
ment system do not redound only to their communities. The
water coming from Tinoc contributes to the water supply of
North Luzon including the Magat-Mallig-Siffu River, which
PART 4: Work in Progress
98

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has a river basin of 5,110 square kilometres and a drainage
area of 1,366,000 hectares. It supplies the water requirement
of Magat Dam, which generates 360 megawatts of electricity
that feeds into the Northern Luzon grid.
Such is the wealth of the Kalanguya’s land and resources and
their traditional knowledge and practices that sustain them.
But as the case of Tukucan shows, real threats endanger this
ecological sustainability. Land conversion for commercial
vegetable production has reached watersheds, indebtedness
among farmers is growing, and land has become collateral
for financial loans, threatening land security. Reduced eco-
systems services are already evident in the drying up of wa-
ter sources and decreasing number of plants and animals. All
these may lead to the loss of knowledge systems and cultural
values that uphold the man-land-nature relationship.
Fortunately for Tinoc, only Tukucan has reached a critical
stage. Of the remaining 11 barangays, five still have a pri-
marily subsistent economy, and six are in varying degrees
of integration into the market system. In these communities,
customary law on sustainable use continues to prevail and
biodiversity still abounds.
Project Outcomes
The project’s first phase worked towards raising appreciation
among the pilot communities of this vital role of the Kalan-
guya traditional resource management system. And as the
following project outcomes indicate, it has made strides in
this direction and in uniting a far bigger Kalanguya commu-
nity than the original target to reverse critical environmental
trends and to revive indigenous agricultural practices.
PART 4: Work in Progress
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Increasing appreciation of indigenous knowledge systems
and practices on natural resource management
The project was able to show, principally to the pilot commu-
nities themselves, the profound wisdom of the territorial and
natural resource management passed on by their forebears
especially at a time when traditional knowledge is beginning
to break down and disparaging views against indigenous
lifeways are causing some youth to feel shame or disinterest
in learning their culture. The small group discussions and
educational sessions on sustainable use of resources led them
to recognize the sound ecological bases of their traditional
practices and to assert these in the face of discrimination.
And this has been translated into action. Members of commu-
nities have started initiatives that resulted in the following:
a) an increase of six to eight traditional rice varieties through
seed exchange among women in two of the five target ba-
rangays; b) community campaigns to strengthen traditional
labor exchange groups, synchronized agricultural activities
and active protest against bulldozing of forestlands; and c)
recognition of the superiority of custom law over state law
on land and resource management.
However, various challenges remain. The conflict of state
laws and customary law on land, decreasing forest cover and
continuing changes in land use which threaten food and land
security and other components of wellbeing (e.g., depen-
dence on external forces, decreased power of decision-mak-
ing among those integrated into the commercial vegetable
industry, negative trends in food quality, loss of biodiversity
and of traditional occupations) are lingering problems.
PART 4: Work in Progress
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Promoting development/innovations of traditional
occupations towards poverty alleviation
Although the project has just been implemented for a year,
innovations on indigenous technologies and revival of tradi-
tional livelihoods have taken off the ground. A blacksmith-
ing center has been set up that provides services to commu-
nities and training to apprentices to increase the number of
practitioners in this trade. Some barangays have also started
reclamation of watershed areas through reforestation and
improvement of sustainable food systems. Using traditional
knowledge, this entails inum-an development and produc-
tion of organic farm inputs such as biofertilizers to enhance
soil fertility.
The bigger challenge however is how to strengthen collective
action to enhance watersheds and wood lots, intensify swid-
den cultivation, revitalize food and honey gathering, hunt-
ing and other traditional occupations to answer the growing
need for cash. This need has become a major concern of every
household.
Enabling communities to advocate and influence policies
of concerned government bodies and development
agencies towards supporting the general objective of the
project on the municipal and provincial level
The project aimed for the empowerment of peoples’ orga-
nizations to influence policies in the barangay and higher
government levels of decision-making. Although an initial
difficulty was encountered in convening farmers’ organiza-
tions, the project was able to provide through trainings and
workshops a venue for learning and cooperation among
community people, and between and among community and
policy makers and planners on the municipal level. Through
these activities and initiatives of municipal officials, the proj-
ect was able to realize the following:
PART 4: Work in Progress
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• Municipal-wide unity through the Land Summit
Covenant to arrest environmental degradation
which has led to an active campaign against conver-
sion of watersheds to commercial vegetable farms;
• Appropriation of funds by the Municipal Council
for municipal 3-D mapping towards formulation of
a comprehensive land use and sustainable develop-
ment plan for the whole Tinoc municipality;
• Agreement by the Man-ili Convention of lower Ti-
noc to popularize and implement the Land Summit
Covenant and to use customary law in preparing
guidelines in land use planning
Forming or strengthening appropriate groups in the
community to spearhead planning, resource generation
and implementation of community development plans
Convening farmers’ organizations was initially not consid-
ered a priority by barangay councils, but this problem was
overcome as the need for strong peoples’ organizations
was reaffirmed. Community leaders and elders at the Man-
ili Convention discussed and agreed on a more systematic
and comprehensive plan for community organizing as they
gained a better appreciation of the role of indigenous peoples’
organizations in ensuring self determined development. To
date four farmers’ organizations have been revived and or-
ganizing of elders is ongoing.
Maximizing project outcomes for national and
international policy advocacy
Linking the project to national and global policy advocacy
has just started. The project experience has been presented
in fora organized by Tebtebba in the Philippines with the
aim to promote revitalization of indigenous peoples’ natural
resource management systems, using as an example the pro-
PART 4: Work in Progress
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found knowledge of the Kalanguya. It has also been shared
with community mappers in different countries supported
by the Forest Peoples Programme (a UK-based NGO) work-
ing on customary sustainable use through community map-
ping. A broader perspective was provided to these groups
including traditional occupations and traditional knowledge
on the development of nested ecosystems.
Continuing Work
The MRDC-Tebtebba partnership continues to work towards
the objective of unifying different stakeholders in Tinoc to
formulate a road map for the adoption of the ecosystems ap-
proach on a higher and wider level taking into account cur-
rent realities. This requires the formation of a body that will
spearhead and ensure adoption and implementation of the
Land Summit Covenant on the municipal level through the
municipal comprehensive land use plan. To attain this, the
following work has to be done:
• Capacity building among different peoples’ organi-
zations formed on the barangay level and envisioned
to be part of the project’s sustaining mechanism;
• Facilitating a workshop among elders to provide
guidelines for the municipal comprehensive land
use planning using the 3-D map;
• Land use planning after 3-D map digitization;
• Convening an inter-agency roundtable discussion to
define roles of each in the implementation of land
use and development plans.
PART 4: Work in Progress
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Conclusion
The project to pilot the CBD ecosystems approach in Ifugao
is a work in progress. But as it moves to the next phase, it is
guided by the insights drawn from the first year of work.
1. To introduce the ecosystems-based approach as
something new is historically inaccurate and an in-
appropriate starting point for indigenous peoples
because it fails to appreciate and build on indigenous
and customary land use and management systems.
These systems are anchored on maintaining ecologi-
cal balance, which is of utmost consideration in their
economic system and part of the socio-cultural and
political fabric of their community life. These must be
supported.
2. Development strategies that require the effective and
full participation of local people have long been for-
mulated but implementation has yet to take off in the
project sites.
3. The conceptual framework linking ecosystems ser-
vices to people’s wellbeing holds true among the
Kalanguya of Tinoc. This and other materials will
facilitate the formulation of development indicators
themselves.
4. The notion that traditional occupations are directly
linked to land use pattern and biodiversity is also af-
firmed in the study areas.
5. Against an external threat, people can easily unite
themselves to resist and fight. However, the demo-
cratic processes to resolve conflicts and threats cre-
ated from within and by members of a community
may take a longer process.
6. Land use and sustainable development planning
needs to be pursued to ensure the people of Tinoc
of the enjoyment of their rights. These are the rights
to own and develop their lands, territories and re-
sources; to have legal recognition and protection for
PART 4: Work in Progress
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these as well as for their customs, traditions and land
tenure systems; and to have their free, prior and in-
formed consent obtained in any project that affects
them as provided for in the UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

105

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Endnotes
1 Ecological Visions 2002, 9.
2 Secretariat of the Convention and Biodiversity 2003, 1-2.
3 Ibid.
4 Eckholm 1976, 21.
5 Ibid.
6 <http://www.tebtebba.org>.
7 MRDC Brochure 2009.
8 Clement 2005.
9 Conklin 1980.
10 Pagusara 1982.
11 Ibid.
12 Schrekenberg et al. 2010, 25.
13 MRDC Research Orientation 1988.
14 Boquiren 2009, 161-162.
15 Resurrection 1997.
16 The generation of data on migration took time as very few people were
knowledgeable on the subject matter.
17 Authored by Congressman Gualberto Lumauig.
18 Ifugao Provincial Development Plan 1993-1998, unpublished.
19 Lagasca 2010.
20 Based on 2009 Community-Based Monitoring System peripheral survey
which differs from land area in 3-D map as the latter measures surface
area. The CBMS is a technical working group under the Municipal Devel-
opment and Planning Office.
21 National Statistics Coordination Board. 2003.
22 There were those who did not check any item on religion in the ques-
tionnaire. Probing further, it was learned that these people adhere to the
traditional religion which was not included in the questionnaire.
23 CBMS 2009.
24 Conklin 1980.

106

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25 Agribusiness Week. 2009.
26 Computed estimates based on interviews using 3-D map.
27 Computed estimates based on interviews using municipal periphery
survey.
28 As cited in the unpublished Tinoc Ethnohistory of Tinoc, Municipal
Planning and Development Office of Tinoc.
29 Boquiren 2009.
30 Respondents identified 85% of forest plants and animals they knew in
one workshop session and completed the list during the validation.
31 Swidden farms refer to a temporary agricultural land created by cutting
and burning of the vegetation, usually in forest or grassland; others call it
“slash and burn;” and others, shifting cultivation (ref. W. H. Scott, 1969,
On the Cordillera, page 1).
32 Vogt 2007.
33 Yen 1974.
34 The study on the Effect of Commercial Vegetable Production on the
Community’s Wellbeing, conducted from June 2008 to August 2009,
was limited to the following time periods: just before the 1970s, mid-90s
and the present. Various methods were employed in the collection of
information, namely, a) review of secondary data mainly from the Tinoc
ADSDPP (2006) and CBMS (Kalahi, 2008), b) key informant interviews, c)
workshops and d) group and focus group discussions.
35 Barangay Resolution No. 11-2002 declared the following as Tukucan
watershed and forest protected areas: the forests of Gibngay, Alibahong,
Upper Bangtitan, Upper Golon, Abuyagan Hanah, Upper Bumat-ang,
Hayoktong, Upper Napatkaw, Upper Hayokto, Labba, Upper Hanil, Up-
per Ambanglo, Upper Gibngay, Hayokto, Habit, Upper Mangnaw, Upper
Pinchikilah, Binang-ili, Timagong, Gangal. Etong ni Bolbol, Upper Pamill-
ingan, Upper Collaban, Pula, Buhlang, Upper Pinnayag are the protected
watershed areas. The resolution included the areas of Hah-day, Nalcah,
Angtangnin, Katigil, Pay-ok, Upper Matmatkal, Upper Guhhadan, Up-
per Tumihangeb, Cagaycay, Upper Bulo-bulo, Amon ulo, Kilong, Upper
Kilong, Upper Kauttukot, Halungto, Western Ehit, Lower Naitaynan,
Lower Pammuluan, Bito Bahhahwit, Macmac and Bangyuyaw.
36 Computations for this and succeeding tables were based on produc-
tion cost on .5 hectare as drawn from experiences of six farmers in focus
group discussions.
37 There are more than 600 hectares of vegetable farm lands in Tukucan,
(although the CBMS survey accounted for only 400+ has), and more than
half are being cultivated, so it is safe to say more than 300 hectares are
under cultivation.

107

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Document Outline

• CARING FOR OUR SOURCE OF SUSTENANCE
  • TABLE OF CONTENTS
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • Acronyms
  • Introduction
  • PART 1
  • PART 2
  • PART 3
  • PART 4
  • Bibliography

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