(Today the Catholic Church in the Philippines celebrates Indigenous Peoples Sunday.)

MANILA, Philippines—“Would you like to learn how to write your name using the Mangyan way of writing?” asks Gemma Nicolas, a Mangyan college student from Mindoro. It’s the easiest thing, she says.

Sure enough, one learns to write one’s name using the Hanunuo Mangyan syllabary in less than 10 minutes.

At the recent soft inauguration of the Indigenous People’s Living Heritage Center on a university campus, college students belonging to indigenous communities and their teachers pulled out all the stops to showcase their rich culture and heritage. Indigenous costumes, music, dance, food, reading materials and works of art competed with computerized interactive displays to stress the importance of the occasion. The event also brought forth the importance of education using both indigenous knowledge and high-tech instruments. And not to forget, the meaning of community and nationhood.

Campus within a campus

The Heritage Center is the heart of Pamulaan Center for Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) Education, a campus within a campus devoted to the college education of IPs. The new center was built through a grant from Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. It is not merely a museum. It is a center for research, documentation and publication of indigenous knowledge systems, history and culture. It also develops education and training materials.

Pamulaan, the learning center, was founded by Benjamin Abadiano, an anthropologist, former Jesuit scholastic and 2004 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Emergent Leadership. Pamulaan, now on its third year, is located inside the University of Southeastern Philippines’ (USEP) Mintal campus in Davao City.

It counts among its partner-supporters the National Commission for Indigenous People, Assisi Development Foundation, Cartwheel Foundation, Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, the Holy Spirit Sisters Mission, the Ilawan Volunteer and Leadership Center and IP organizations and communities.

Talaandig, Subanen, Badjao, Mandaya, Mansaka, Tagakaolo, Mangyan, Aeta, Teduray, Bagobo, Ifugao—name it and many of the Philippines’ indigenous communities are represented in this special campus. Here, 96 young people from 31 tribes from all over the country are studying to earn college degrees in order to become useful to their communities. More students are expected in the coming years.

College for IPs

All Pamulaan students are on scholarship, meaning they do not pay for board and lodging, tuition, books and miscellaneous expenses. They all come with their respective communities’ recommendation, moral support, as well as expectations that they will finish and go back to their people.

Phoege Sapi, 19, a Teduray from South Cotabato, is a first year student who plans to major in Peace Education. Gloria Lintawagin, 17, a Mangyan from Mindoro, is in second year, majoring in Applied Anthropology. Richard Milod, 22, belongs to the Tagakaolo tribe and is in third year, majoring in agricultural technology.

Jodelyn Sadingan, 22, a Mandaya from Davao Oriental is in third year and also majoring in agricultural technology. Karel Jane Dikonlay, 18, a Talaandig from Bukidnon, is in second year, majoring in anthropology.

Cyril Jay Ojas, 18, a Subanen in second year and majoring in applied anthropology, says with conviction: “My goal is to serve.”

Special subjects

Although the Pamulaan scholars have their living quarters, library and special facilities within their special campus in USEP, they are enrolled in basic subjects taught in the main campus. They interact with non-IP students every day. But Pamulaan students take special subjects which are necessary for their work later. Among these subjects are anthropology and the development and history of Mindanao. They do their practicum in their places of origin.

Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar, a veteran development worker in Mindanao and writer, teaches at Pamulaan.

“I teach Mindanao history as well as about cultures of the indigenous peoples,” he says. “They also learn about the lumad (indigenous peoples or IP) social movement. The medium of instruction is English, Filipino and Visayan.”

A noted resource person on spirituality, Gaspar notes that the students bring with them their culture’s spirituality. “And so we bring in their belief system in their studies,” he adds. “They have a very strong desire to give back.”

Tertiary education

Pamulaan founder Abadiano is cochair of the partnership between Pamulaan and the USEP whose president is Dr. Perfecto Alibin. Dr. Surlita Sumugat is adviser-coordinator.

Abadiano is a member of the Department of Education’s technical working committee for national policy in IP education.

Pamulaan is the first institution to offer tertiary education for IPs, according to Alibin. Its main thrust is to create culturally appropriate and relevant pathways of training and formation for indigenous children, youth, community leaders and development workers. It hopes to produce graduates equipped with knowledge and abilities to initiate action toward sustainable development of IP communities.

Pamulaan: Seedbed

The name Pamulaan, Abadiano explains, comes from a lumad-Matigsalog word that means seedbed. “We use the term to stress the program’s commitment to root the development of the students in the realities of their life and culture.”

Abadiano also founded Tugdaan (which also means seedbed), a thriving learning and production center for Mangyans in Paitan, Oriental Mindoro.

Pamulaan refers not only to the Davao-based tertiary institution, but also to the network of IP community schools in several places in the Philippines. In this network are the early childhood and elementary education program for Aetas in Capas, Tarlac, high schools for the lumad youth in Camarines Norte, Mindanao and Mindoro, as well as the Tugdaan Mangyan Center for Learning and Development in Mindoro.

The program provides a variety of academic and non-academic approaches that addresses the needs of IP communities. It uses a “cycle” and “system of learning that starts from experience leading to theory, application, evaluation and reflection.” Practical training is done in IP communities.

First fruits

Pamulaan offers bachelor’s degrees with majors in education, agricultural technology, anthropology and peace education.

Students get special training in functional literacy, cultural integrity, land tenure, culture of peace, leadership, governance and values formation, environment and resource management, sustainable agriculture, basic health and sanitation, community and organizational development and program and financial management.

Pamulaan also offers LEAP or local educators’ advancement program for facilitators, para-teachers and education managers.

The program has come a long way since Abadiano first saw a glimmer of Pamulaan in a dream. Part of his RM Award cash prize has gone into the realization of this dream.

Next school year, Pamulaan will reap its first fruits with its first batch of college graduates. The hills will come alive with the sound of gongs, strings and wind instruments. The graduates will begin to give back.