Datu Damfel Banwe

MALUNGON, Sarangani (March 27, 2008) – Wearing the traditional Blaan attire, boxing hero Manny Pacquiao becomes Datu Damfel Banwe' which means "a man to unite the people from distant places towards peace and prosperity." (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

Conferment rites

MALUNGON, Sarangani (March 27, 2008) – Blaan tribal elders confer WBC super featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao the rank of datu in Malungon Wednesday, March 26, at the municipal gymnasium. Partly hidden at left is Mayor Reynaldo Constantino. (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

IPs confer Pacquiao rank of Datu

MALUNGON, Sarangani (March 27, 2008) – Elders of the indigenous people (IP) conferred world boxing champ Manny Pacquiao the rank of datu (tribal leader) as he returned home Wednesday (March 26) to a rousing welcome ceremony in Malungon where he chairs the municipal tourism council.

Pacquiao's title of Datu Damfel Banwe' means "a man with the power to unite the people from all places towards peace and prosperity".

The WBC super featherweight champion arrived at General Santos City airport in the morning.

Pacquiao was joined by South Cotabato Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio and General Santos City Mayor Pedro Acharon, Jr. in a motorcade and press conference.

Shortly after, Malungon municipal officials in a motorcade led Pacquiao to the town where he received a hero's welcome at the jam-packed municipal gym.

"Ipinakita nya ang kahalagahan na walang imposible kapag tayo ay may pangarap at inspirasyon," Governor Migs Dominguez said in a welcome message.

Mayor Reynaldo Constantino said he had scheduled Pacquiao's grand welcome in Malungon even before the boxing champ's latest victory against Mexican Juan Manual Marquez.

Malungon is the only landlocked municipality in Sarangani. On its hinterlands are villages of indigenous peoples such as the Tagakaolos and the Blaans.

The province's School of Living Tradition (SLT) project has made the Blaans and the Tagakaolos preserve their heritage of tribal dress weaving and beads making which is also their source of income.

Pacquiao's conferment as datu is in accordance with the Indigenous People's Rights Act (IPRA) or R.A. 8371, recognizing Pacquiao's respect among the country's IPs.

Late last year, Pacquiao joined Environment Secretary Lito Atienza in a reforestation drive in Sarangani's capital town Alabel to protect a watershed there. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

Malong

MALAPATAN, Sarangani (March 16, 2008) – Women in Malapatan town keep their traditional arts alive with a malong-weaving project under their Rural Improvement Club. They prepare threads to weave and produce malong like the ones they are wearing. (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

Weaving

MALAPATAN, Sarangani (March 15, 2008) – A Blaan woman starts a weaving process (tabih). A dileh (knife), galana (dye) made up of yellow, green, violet and red, and a wooden stick (los) are used to treat the dried leaves of buli or romblon leaves. The traditional tabih, one of the three vanishing arts of weaving among the indigenous people, has been preserved in Sarangani through the School of Living Tradition project of Governor Migs Dominguez. (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

Romblon harvest

MALAPATAN, Sarangani (March 15, 2008) – A Blaan woman harvests romblon leaves (buli) in Upper Lasang where a School of Living Tradition for mat weaving was established by the provincial government. Romblon is found on many islands in the Western Pacific and grows in abundance by the seashore. A sustainable resource, the sword shaped leaves are harvested leaving the plant to grow new leaves for future use. Once dried, the leaves are traditionally woven into sleeping mats, market bags and other useful items. (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

Lamlunay: Nurturing a culture of business and tradition

Russtum G. Pelima

MAITUM, Sarangani (March 14, 2008) – The place was once a battleground deserted by Tboli villagers, their displaced families settling elsewhere in the lowlands driven by armed conflicts in the 70s.

But barangay Upo has not withered hope.

After a long time, the Tbolis decided to resettle, protect their forest, save their future and tradition, built their own business.

What they're sowing for nature has been bringing good fortune to barangay Upo's doorsteps.

The Lamlunay Research and Learning Center (LRLC) built at the foot of a forest gained recognition as one of the 19 finalists at the national Gawad Galing Pook last year.

In March 11, a team from United Nations World Food Program (WFP) conducted a project visit in Lamlunay for the Ylang-ylang and banana food-for-work program.

The Upo Valley Multi-purpose Cooperative (UVAMULCO) takes care of the community farmers' businesses. Started to operate in 2000 and now with 300 farmer members, UVAMULCO buys abaca, banana, coffee and corn from the farmers. It has enabled them easy market. This small barangay can produce 30 tons of bananas in a week.

LRLC now nurses 15,000 hills of rubber trees for free distribution to the farmers.

The center sits on land donated by the Kusin family to the barangay. It intends to showcase how its 97-hectare forest must be protected through reforestation.

Lamlunay is a coined Tboli term which means paradise-lam (into) and lunay (a tree), thus, "into the forest."

Among the indigenous peoples like the Tbolis, forest is a paradise, with all its natural beauty, serenity, and bounty.

At the heart of Lamlunay's mountain is a waterfalls. Basilio Kusin recounted to me how it got its name.

Once, a Tboli named Lumabag lived here. Being alone, he fed from fruit trees and hunting wild animals in the forest. Trying to catch a frog one day, Lumabag fell into the wild water and died there. From then on, the people called the waterfalls Ficong Lumabag (Lumabag Falls).

Just before lunch, young Tboli girls in colorful tribal dress performed a Tboli traditional dance.

Basilio and I seated under the canopies so he could continue telling me his stories-the origin of a nearby brook called Banlagil, and how the lunay tree in the midst of the forest has provided light to the village people-while playing the duwagay, a Tboli violin.

"You know," he whispered as he noticed my attention was caught by his instrument. "A Tboli plays the duwagay to court a girl. Soon, the girl would come out and flee from her mother's house to look where the tune comes from." (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/RGP)

UN official lauds Sarangani town's food program

MAITUM, Sarangani (March 13, 2008) – United Nations World Food Program (WFP) Country Director Guarnieri Valerie has commended the local government and community joint efforts in the implementation of food-for-work program.

During the site visit and validation at the Lamlunay Research and Learning Center (LRLC) in barangay Upo Tuesday (Mar. 11), Valerie said the community models Mindanao in its Food for Education, Food for Work, Food for Hope and Food for Peace.

"It sounds that in here you embrace many of these principles," Valerie said.

"One of the reasons why we wanted to see your area is because the sort of the things you were doing in Sarangani and here in this municipality is exactly the sort of things that the World Food Program is trying to support in Mindanao."

Upo was driven by conflict between government and secessionist rebels in the 70s.

LRLC opened with an 11-hectare land donated by a Tboli family to the barangay and started to operate in 2000 with the local government beginning to conduct inter-agency trainings and seminars.

The center runs on a tripartite management of the municipal and provincial government, the barangay, and the community and serves to protect its 97-hectare forested area.

Lamlunay is a native coinage of lam (into) and lunay (tree), thus "into the forest." Lamlunay connotes a paradise among the Tbolis.

The center now nurses 15,000 rubber seedlings to be distributed to community farmers for free.

In return, Upo Valley Multi-purpose Cooperative (UVAMULCO) buys farmers' products in the area such as abaca, coffee and banana.

UVAMULCO has 300 coop members who farm their own lands. Among the barangay's eight sitios, Antam produces the biggest, with eight tons of banana per week.

Valerie lauds in particular the participation of women in the implementation of the Ylang-ylang and banana projects, and the barangay community in maintaining peace and order.

LRLC was one of the 19 national finalists for the Gawad Galing Pook 2007.

"This is our perfect example of a cultural minority that is able to succeed not because of government, but really because the community bonded together and decided that they wanted to move on forward," Governor Migs Dominguez said.

The UN team also visited the Gawad Kalinga eco-village in barangay Mabay in Maitum; the skills training and weaving project of rebel returnees in Sitio Ihan, Barangay Datal Anggas in Alabel; and the School of Living Tradition in Lamlifew, Malungon. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/RGP)

Mango

MAITUM, Sarangani (March 14, 2008) – A caretaker inspects mango seedlings at the Lamlunay Research and Learning Center (LRLC) in barangay Upo, a finalist in the recent Gawad Galing Pook national awards on outstanding local governance programs. LRLC in Maitum is a 108-hectare facility that maintains nurseries of fruit trees and other crops and distributes seedlings to barangays. LRLC demo farms use sloping agricultural land technology. Diversified farming systems are also maintained in the center. Through LRLC, a brainchild of the late Mayor George Yabes, the average family income in barangay Upo has continuously increased. (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

Tboli violin

MAITUM, Sarangani (March 12, 2008) – Basilio Kusin plays a Duwagay, a Tboli violin made of lunay tree and a copper coil used as string. A Tboli male plays the Duwagay in courtship. (Photo by SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/CAS)

UN World Food Program

MAITUM, Sarangani (March 12, 2008) – Governor Migs Dominguez welcomes residents and guests from the United Nations World Food Program led by Country Director Guarnieri Valerie (2nd from right) on Tuesday (Mar. 11) at Lamlunay Research and Learning Center, a finalist in the recent Gawad Galing Pook national awards. It is one of Sarangani's outstanding local governance programs on farm learning that helped increase the average family income in the barangay. (Photo by SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/CAS)

Door-to-door consultation

ALABEL, Sarangani (March 5, 2008) – Blaan women hold an impromptu "door-to-door" consultation with Governor Migs Dominguez through a window in purok Ihan, barangay Datal Anggas, a former rebel stronghold where government presence was rarely felt before. The village is 47 kilometers north of the municipal center and can be reached by going through a muddy and treacherous terrain. (Photo by SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/CAS)

Officials listen to villagers' gripes

ALABEL, Sarangani (March 5, 2008) – Local government officials have sought community cooperation and support for stable peace and order condition in the hinterlands following recent surrender of rebels to the government.

Governor Migs Dominguez, who led municipal officials to Purok Ihan in barangay Datal Anggas Tuesday (Mar. 4), gave the opportunity for villagers to air their sentiments and get government attention to improve their living.

"Kailangan naming ang inyong suporta at kooperasyon," the governor told residents in Datal Anggas, some 47 kilometers north of the poblacion.

Dominguez asked them to list down the basic services needed by the barangay for the local government to look into.

The municipal government has built a water system sourced from a spring that benefits 80 households in the village belonging to the Blaan tribe.

A nursery for 10,000 rubber trees was constructed late last year to be planted in Datal Anggas and its adjacent barangays.

In August, a score of bandits and 16 members of the New People's Army (NPA) laid down their arms to government and started farming for corn.

"Salamat sa tulong ng gobyerno sa amin," Roger Tartisan said.

Tartisan, 20, and his former co-combatant, Layde Malinaw, 31, now produce corn and bring their crops to the market through a habal-habal (passenger motorcycle).

Lt. Col. Manuel Sequitin, 66th Infantry Battalion commander, has placed a Division Recon Company in Ihan to ensure the security of the villagers.

A livelihood training on basket weaving for former rebels and women has been conducted by Globe Telecom and ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation's BridgeCom sa Bayan in partnership with the provincial government of Sarangani and the Alcantara Foundation.

Purok Chairman Victor Moda said the completion of a six-kilometer Ihan-Kalbangan road through the food-for-work program would enable children to go to a primary school two kilometers away from the purok center. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/RGP)