Understanding the Environmental Roles of Mining Beliefs and Practices in Sitio Midas, Itogon
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Mining beliefs and practices are among the most important considerations concerning environmental conservation, specifically for the Kankanaeys of Sitio Midas, Itogon, Benguet. These beliefs and practices have guided the community's mining activities and relationships, and informed residents' environmental stewardship, despite the unavoidable link between mining and environmental destruction and degradation of Kankanaey culture. This study explores the vital role of mining beliefs and practices in protecting the environment in a small-scale scale-mining community using a qualitative ethnographic research design with unstructured interviews and non-participatory observation as data collection methods. The findings revealed that modernization does not prevent miners from using their traditional skills, methods, and expertise, which are simple and practical, without causing significant environmental damage. The Kankanaeys' proenvironmental worldview influenced traditional mining norms and behaviors in Sitio Midas. Kankanaey miners' cultural and environmental concerns include a loss of spirituality, the decline of traditional culture, the influence of large commercial mining companies, and safety mining. Despite these challenges and concerns, traditional Kankanaey mining continues to play an important role in environmental sustainability and community resilience, providing new insight or initiatives to increase assistance and capabilities relevant to traditional culture in mining and environmental protection.
Article Details
References
Baguilat, B. (2011). Philippines: Mining And Its Impacts To Indigenous Communities. http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.Php
Banes, G.G. (2019). Women’s Roles, Challenges, and Opportunities in Small-Scale Mining. Mountain Journal of Science and Interdisciplinary Research (formerly Benguet State University Research Journal), 79(2 Supp 1): 49-60.
Caballero, E.J. (1996). Gold from the Gods: Traditional Small-Scale Miners in the Philippines. Quezon City: Giraffe books.
Canilao, M.A.P. (2011). Transformations in Ibaloi gold extraction: From the protohistoric period to the current era (14th c–20th c). Aghamtao Journal, 20, 20-39.
Cariño, J.K. (2023). Philippines: gold mining and Indigenous Peoples in the Cordillera - IWGIA International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. https://www.iwgia.org/en/philippines/5255-philippines-gold-miningand-indigenous-peoples-in-the-cordillera.html#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20the%20Department%20of,their%20families%20in%20Ucab%2C%20Itogon.
Chaloping-March, M. (2006). The Place of Women in Mining in the Cordillera Region, Philippines. Women Miners in Developing Countries: Pit Women and Others. P. 185-208
Cobbinah, P.B. (2015). Local attitudes towards natural resources management in rural Ghana. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 26(3): 423-436.
Doctolero, J. (2021). Indigenous Healing Ritual in the Context of Ecological Disaster. MST Review, 23(1), 1-1.
GMA News. (2018). Death toll in Itogon landslide reaches 91. GMA News Online. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/regions/669806/death-toll-in-itogon-landslide-reaches-91/story/
Habana, O.M. (2001). Gold Mining in Benguet: 1900-1941. Philippine Studies 49(1): 3–41.
Inquirer.Net. (2019). Cyanide barred in small-scale mine in Itogon. Inquirer News. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1074410/cyanide-barred-in-smallscale-mine-in-itogon
Leung, A.M.R., & Lu, J.L. (2016). Environmental Health and Safety Hazards among Indigenous Small-Scale Gold Miners Using Cyanidation in the Philippines. Environmental Health Insights, 10, 125–131. 10.4137/EHI.S38459
Leung, A.M.R., & Lu, J.L. (2022). Work Process and Hazard Analysis in Small-scale Gold Mining in Northern Philippines. Acta Medica Philippina, 56(1). https://doi.org/10.47895/amp.v56i1.3871
Luetz, J.M., & Nunn, P.D. (2023). Spirituality and sustainable development: An entangled and neglected relationship. Sustainability Science, 18(4): 2035-2042.
Malanes, M. (2002). Power from the mountains: Indigenous knowledge systems and practices in ancestral domain management: the experience of the Kankanaey-Bago people in Bakun, Benguet Province, Philippines. ILO.
Mines and Geosciences Bureau. (2016). Mining Industry Statistics. http://www.mgb.gov.ph/Files/Statistics/MineralIndustryStatistics.pdf.
Moss, C.R. (1920). Kankanaey ceremonies (Vol. 15). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Municipality of Itogon. (2023). Barangay Profiles 2019-Itogon. https://itogon.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Ucab.pdf
PhilAtlas. (2020). https://www.philatlas.com/luzon/car/benguet/itogon/ucab.html
Philippine Statistics Authority. (2020). "Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)". Total Population by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay. https://rssocar.psa.gov.ph/content/highlights2020-population-cordillera-administrativeregion-car#:~:text=Among%20the%20six%20provinces%20comprising,124%2C366%20 persons%20(Figure%202).
PlanetGOLD. (2020). The resiliency of the Philippine Small-Scale Mining communities. https://www.planetgold.org/resiliency-philippine-small-scalemining-communities
Reeves, S., Kuper, A., & Hodges, B.D. (2008). Qualitative research methodologies: Ethnography. BMJ, 337.
Sacla, W.D. (1987). Treasury of Beliefs and Home Rituals of Benguet. Philippines: BCF Printing Press.
Stern, P.C., Dietz, T., Abel, T., Guagnano, G.A., & Kalof, L. (1999). A value-belief-norm theory of support for social movements: The case of environmentalism. Human ecology review, 81-97.
Sumeg-ang, A. (2005). "The Southern Kankana-eys". Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Cordillera. Quezon City: New Day Publishers. pp. 156–175.
United Nations Environment Programme. (2020). Sustainability Reporting in the Mining Sector: Current Status and Future Trends - Summary. https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/34051.
van Hulst, M., Koster, M., & Vermeulen, J. (2015). Ethnographic research. Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, 2. 10.1081/E-EPAP3-120051222
Wetzlmaier, M. (2012). Cultural Impacts of Mining in Indigenous Peoples’ Ancestral Domains in the Philippines. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of SouthEast Asian Studies, 5(2): 335-344.