LUCENA CITY -- Indigenous people in Sierra Madre mountain abhor the traditional practice of lowlanders of greeting New Year with a big bang from all sorts of firecrackers and pyrotechnics.

"The practice of lowlanders of exploding firecrackers to welcome the New Year is a big no, no to the natives. We abhor the use of all sorts of firecrackers. Its not only dangerous, its only a waste of precious money," Ramcey Astoveza, Agta tribal leader, said Monday in a mobile phone interview from the Tribal Center for Development building in Infanta town in northern Quezon.

He said for generations, tribal leaders have been encouraging the practice of creating "unpolluted noise" to welcome every New Year.

"We heartily shout as loud as we can, play our transistor radios with full volume, bang cans and pots, blow horns made from indigenous leaves. But no pla-pla or Diablo or sinturon ni Hudas," Astoveza said, referring to the banned fireworks that usually greet the New Year for most Filipinos.

For the mountain people, the intrusion of unwelcome noise to disturb the peace and silence of Sierra Madre is an "abominable act."

"The deepening blast of firecrackers is like the roars of power saws by illegal loggers and outburst of gun fires from the military and the NPA [New People’s Army]. They are all unwanted in Sierra Madre. They are all disrespecting the holy silence of the mountain," Astoveza said philosophically.

After welcoming the New Year with their traditional noises, Astoveza said the whole tribe would share a simple feast mostly of sweet delicacies made from glutinous rice and available forest food products.

"And if we're lucky to catch a wild boar [baboy-damo], it will be a fiesta. But more often, catching one is now getting very difficult. With the thundering noise from power saws, the herd of wild pigs has retreated to the inner bosom of the mountain. They are afraid of strange loud noises," he explained.

When asked of the aspiration of the Agta tribe in this coming New Year, he meekly replied: "We just want the government and the lowlanders to respect the sanctity of our land. No more wars inside the Sierra Madre, no more illegal logging and no more land-grabbing."

Agta people are often forced to leave their homes in the slopes of the Sierra Madre in General Nakar town and sought refuge at the Tribal Center for Development building for fear of getting caught in the crossfire between government forces and communist rebels.

The natives once protested the alleged recruitment of Agta men to become members of the paramilitary Citizens' Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU).

Astoveza stressed that the Agta tribe was not composed of warriors but of simple peaceful mountain farmers.

"Bloodbath and violence is alien to our culture," Astoveza said.

Astoveza said they welcomed the government revocation of the controversial 25-year forest management contract granted to Timberland Forest Products Inc. (TFPI) covering 36,660 hectares in the Quezon province part of Sierra Madre.

"We had long been protesting that project. Thanks God, the government finally heard us," he said.

However, he revealed that based from recent reports from tribesmen, illegal logging have returns in some parts of the mountain.

"Sad to say, we learned from our sources that government officials and politicians are actively involved in this renewed rape of the forest," Astoveza lamented.

However, he declined to identify the government officials.

"It's now up to the concerned government agencies to investigate. We're willing to help," he said.