All people including the T’boli of Lake Sebu
“After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindred and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!”
(Rev. 7:9-10)
MDr.Y NEPHEW Kabayan Jones and cousin Roy Magantino just went to Lake Sebu in their recent trip to triumph over the fears of traveling southern Philippines. This brought me back to the trip down there in 2001 as part of the Philippine team cultural exchange. The delegates from Cordillera included one was a Tingguian , two Kalanguya, one Ibaloi and two of us from Mountain Province.
One of the more interesting portion was a hosting of the local school run by the Catholic church. On a Friday, the students wear the traditional attire and for their PE they dance the Indigenous dance. It was interesting because as we watched one dance, they used their malong to portray from “birth to death” life cycle. I was able to talk to the teacher s and they are completely committed to the preservation of the T’boli culture of Lake Sebu. No wonder the organizers of our “IP curriculum development program” brought us to there. Much that I dig deep into my memory, the name of the school escapes me. I can’t find my journal on that decade old trip to Lake Sebu. Wow, now that I am going to graduate from being golden and be 60 in four months, I will soon use the excuse “senior moments”
Davao Catholic Herald last October 2015, featured a former teacher and principal of the Catholic mission, Anita Castillon who went on to set her own school and now “runs 3 IP schools: two kindergarten and the one in Takunel is now an elementary school with 120 students. These are called Indigenous Learning School (ILS) and use the IP Curriculum with T’Boli teachers who are college graduates. Tuition fee is only P20/month with the condition that parents plant root crops and vegetables in their homes and around the school yard to ensure proper nutrition for the students. Parents help in cooking the food for the school feeding program. She conducts livelihood training for parents to enable them to earn more and afford the P20/month tuition fees.”
The T’boli people is a group of over 92,453 based on a 2015 census. They are believed to be spread in various places specially in South Cotabato. The people share a religious affiliation to Christianity, folk religion and animist adherents. They still have the horse fights during weddings, and some T’boli are still polygamous. The T’boli of Lake Sebu live in a well maintained wooded mountain, bubbly rivers and productive farms.
It has been over a decade after the Philippine government focused on the IP curriculum for DepEd but still we lament because the IP culture curriculum continue to be trickles in existence. Implementers or writers - paid by government, meaning the Filipino paying people, have not fully grasp the IP curriculum for the appreciation of co-existence and the preservation of our people. More so, because the IP culture con-