Mandaya youth showcase their culture through dance and other performances. —PHOTOS BY LEO
ADRIAN LICAYAN
CARAGA, Davao Oriental—Stomping to the beat of drums fashioned from bamboo, children garbed in tribal gear braved the searing sun and the threat of a sudden downpour as they danced to depict the culture and struggles of one of Mindanao’s dominant indigenous peoples (IP) communities.
Children, some as young as 6, performed with gusto before cheering parents and neighbors in Sangab, an upland village virtually dominated by the Mandaya tribe some 30 kilometers from the town center of Caraga.
They are elementary pupils of at least five schools in Pichon, Caraga’s farthest village, and were competing in the event highlighting the Kalindugan, a two-day festival extolling the Mandaya culture. Kalindugan is Mandaya for “rising up.”
“The children are the hope of our tribe so they have to learn the Mandaya culture [through the performances],” Councilor Daisy Jane Polancos said.
Sangab children reenact scenes when soldiers and communist rebels faced off in their community.
Ancestral domain
Nestled atop the mountain range that cuts through Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley provinces, Sangab is one of 13 Pichon sitios (subvillages) that comprise Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title-01 (CADT-01).
Awarded to the tribe in 1997 and covering about 14,000 hectares, CADT-01 is the first of such titles given to indigenous communities in Southern Mindanao, said Copertino Banugan, Sangab’s likid (chieftain).
For Banugan and other tribal leaders, the document cemented the Mandaya people’s claim to their ancestral land and further strengthened their resolve to assert and fight for their rights.
The community is vibrant and resilient, with indigenous knowledge systems and practices taking centerpiece in its way of life, Banugan said.
“As much as we can, we rely on our own. We seldom get help from the lowlands, such as from politicians,” he said.
As tribal chief, Banugan sees to it that he leads as democratic as possible.
“We have a council of elders or magkatadong that decides on important issues and concerns affecting the community. In our culture, everyone is given a voice so even families are represented in the council,” Banugan said, calling this unit as limpong.
Sangab also has a tagahusay or judiciary, comprising elders who settle and mediate disputes.
Sangab children reenact scenes when soldiers and communist rebels faced off in their community.
Democracy at work
Community leaders do their jobs voluntarily and for free. “In Mandaya culture, leaders do not receive salaries. If we do, we cease to become leaders. We now become mere workers,” Banugan said.
Most of the more than 7,000 residents in Sangab and those within CADT-01 rely on abaca and corn farming for livelihood. But some, particularly the men, work as small-scale miners in several gold-rich areas in Compostela Valley, and in other areas in Davao Oriental.
Sangab and the entire ancestral domain claim could have gold deposits, but the tribal chieftain appears cold to the idea of allowing mining operations there.
“We are the only mountainous area in Mindanao that has no mining operations and I believe we would like to remain that way. Mining is not entirely bad, but it isn’t good either,” Banugan said.
The tribe’s opposition to the New People’s Army (NPA) has become a sort of pride for the community, Banugan said. As a people, the Mandaya are proud and detest interference from outsiders, whether they are investors, politicians or insurgents, he said.
“We are also law-abiding citizens of this country although we have our own culture. That’s why when the NPA had a massive operation here in 1971, not a single Mandaya joined,” he said.
Insurgency problem
As the insurgency raged and swept the countryside in the 1980s, forests surrounding Sangab became a training ground for NPA recruits, Banugan recalled.
The communists made several attempts to win over the tribal people, but they refused. This came to a head in 1985 when insurgents started killing Mandaya leaders. All throughout this violent period, 18 tribal chiefs lost their lives, he said.
“Our fears have morphed into a ball of rage and we decided to fight,” Banugan said, adding the first Alsa-Masa (Rise up, People), an anticommunist movement that snowballed in Davao City, Digos City and other areas in Mindanao during the apex of the communist rebellion, may have begun in Sangab.
With the help of the spirits of their ancestors, and despite their crude weapons, Banugan said the tribe was able to drive away 300 rebels from the forests of Sangab.
“The rebels have never been able to set foot in the community,” he said.
On June 13, the rebels again tried to enter the village. About 200 armed outsiders, believed to be from New Bataan, Compostela Valley, descended on the outskirts of Sangab and started knocking on doors of several homes. Several people were wounded and residents had to flee when a firefight broke out between the intruders and a group of soldiers stationed in the community.
Mandaya heritage
The incident was vividly and humorously depicted in a dance-play by students from Sangab on Oct. 30, the last day of this year’s 18th Kalindugan Festival.
Two groups of schoolboys wielding wooden firearms played the roles of soldiers and rebels, while girls portrayed mothers and pupils fleeing for their lives. A papier-mâché helicopter gunship was supposed to be the ultimate “deus ex machina” but did not hover up to expectations when it was torn while being lowered on to the performers, much to the amusement of the crowd.
The young performers did the Mandaya courtship and marriage dance as female onlookers shrieked and clapped. They also performed ritual dances on planting, fishing and hunting.
Tourism officials said the IP community in Sangab would form part of the cultural tourism that Caraga seeks to start.
“There’s more to Caraga than Pusan Point,” Miguel Trocio, provincial tourism officer, said, referring to the town’s more popular destination in Santiago village known as the site of the Philippines’ first sunrise of the millennium.
Aside from Pusan Point and the oldest Catholic Church in Mindanao, Caraga has caves and waterfalls attracting tourists.
“We want these [scenic and historical spots] to complement our cultural tourism,” Trocio said.
“Tourism is not just about sites and scenery. It’s also learning about the people and their culture. And as a tourist, you need to immerse in the community to fully appreciate it,” he said.