Biodiversity Partnership Project begins in Sablayan
Incorporating conservation and sustainability in the community
T RAVELING from Manila to the municipality of Sablayan was as diverse as its province that is Occidental Mindoro.
My travel involved a three-hour boat ride from Batangas pier to Abra de Ilog where the sea is sometimes agitated. As the boat came nearer to Abra de Ilog pier, I’d seen mountains covered mostly with cogon grass—an evidence of exploitation, which happened years before, maybe by logging, shifting cultivation and “kaingin.”
During my trip from Abra de Ilog to Sablayan, a vast area of irrigated rice fields was observed but the mountains adjacent to fields were covered with mostly grass and very few shrubs. It took about 10 hours travel before I reached the municipality of Sablayan. The name Sablayan was derived from a Visayan term “sablay” meaning wave convergence.
Immediately, a was devoted to paying courtesy to the officers of the local government units (LGU) in the municipal and barangay levels, the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm (SPPF), civil society organizations, National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and Indigenous People (IP) leaders, church and the Sablayan National High School to gather necessary information relevant to the Biodiversity Partnership Project (BPP).
This new project, BPP, aims to assist LGUs in critical eco-regions of the Philippines to better incorporate the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity resources in their development planning systems and economic growth strategies. It is nice to note that these sectors were receptive, and willing to support BPP and Haribon Foundation.
In Mindoro, there are eight tribes of Mangyan considered as the first inhabitants of the place; two of them could be found in Sablayan—the Alangan and the Tao Buid. Members of the Alangan tribe were comfortable mingling with “Tagalog” communities compared to the Tao Buid tribe. “Tagalog” is the term used by the tribe to other various origins other than IP or Mangyan. They bring farm products, mostly banana and ginger, to town to sell, and used the money to purchase what they need.
While the tribe Tao Buids still lived in the wilderness of mount Siburan, and had never been to town. Only a group of usually five to six individuals in their community were assigned to sell their products and purchase needed goods (usually salt) and bring such to their community. They do hunting and fishing, slash and burn and shifting cultivation in order to plant rice, corn and few vegetables. “Nami,” a wild root crop, is one of their sources of food; it is poisonous when not properly prepared.
An interesting information gathered was that the Mangyan Indigenous Communities have a representative at the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) recognized by the local government, chosen by the IP community themselves based on their culture and practices. SB Ruben Dangupon is an IP representative who assumed the office without undergoing the government election process.
Sablayan is a rice producer town with some corn, banana and vegetables. Farming technologies have been studied and researched with help from nongovernment organizations and the Office of Municipal Agriculture through its Farming Information and Technology Systems (FITS) office.
Various farming technologies including organic farming were introduced to the farming community; however, it was not sustained due to the cost price, and the proliferation of commercial fertilizers, pesticides and other farm inputs. With those constraints, the FITS office still continues to develop techniques and products to support farmers, such as the establishment of wood vinegar processing and vermi tea production. Wood vinegar is the extract or fluid coming from the burning of twigs of Kakawate, rain tree, and eucalyptus tree in a chamber, which is used as pesticide and insecticide. The vermin tea is end product after the fermentation of the vermicast.
Flooding is also a problem of most farmers in the lowland. Just recently, their newly planted rice were damaged by flood brought about by typhoon and heavy rains. Though most farmers believe that having not enough trees in the mountains is the main cause of flash flooding, there are still farmers both IPs and non-IPs who are engaged in kaingin and shifting cultivation in the upland since it is a less expensive way of farming without considering its effect to the downstream.
Why is this so? Is it because they wanted to survive? Expand their area for they wanted to earn more and to call it their own? Or they just lack information and awareness on the effects of their actions? Or, all of the above?
Whatever the reasons maybe, the challenge is on how to sustain food production without putting the environment and biodiversity to risk.