December 7, 2011
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Negros Oriental countrysides
These past three days, I've been up hiking in the boondocks of Negros Oriental, in areas considered critical by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines because of the presence of the Maoist Communist guerrillas, the New People's Army. Somehow, the mountains of Negros Oriental is forbidden place by virtue of the province's Ordinance No. 5, which illegally prohibits traveling to the areas without going through inventory of one's belongings and all.
However, my friend Simon, a French-Canadian scholar from the Universite de Montreal studying rural development, thought that the red tape was just too much and so we didn't wait for our papers which was taking too long to process because the police nor the Office of the Governor doesn't know what to do about it. To think that the governor was one of the authors of the said un-Constitutional ordinance (check my story on this, here).
Well, I reckon that since the Ordinance does not speak of scholarly research as part of the forbidden activities in the area, we are not covered by the ordinance. And besides we did give our courtesy call to the military encampments in the places that we went to.
Here are a few of the photos taken during that wonderful and tiring hike.
I thought this was tapioca, but apparently its not. Who can identify this palm tree?
Our host in Brgy. Mantiquil, village councilor and pastor for the Apostolate Church of Jesus Christ (they have around 20 members), Pastor Totong Millares. He accommodated us in his place and was happy to offer breakfast and dinner. All for free. One of the good things in the countrysides of the Philippines is that the hospitality of old is still alive and well. People there would be happy to have you in their house. They are warm and very considerate.
This is a weed, but its beautiful. These flowers lined the very rough road that we trekked.
In order to discourage the Maoist Communist New People's Army from visiting settlements such as these, the Philippine Army have placed detachments in the community. These CAFGU (locals armed and used by the military to augment their rank) and Army personnel were so happy to welcome us to the community.
Overlooking Barangay Mantiquil. This was quite a walk. An hour of uphill walk, if I'm not mistaken. I guess, normally this would just take 20 to 30 minutes along a reforested area, but then with me who never knew exercise in his entire life, man, it was just crazy. We had to walk back to the settlement (in the background) after checking out the wonderful view from on top of this hill.Brgy. Mantiquil doesn't have any electricity yet, although the road to the area, though rough, is passable. The people here don't own their land because it is classified as forestland. The government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have granted the community's organization with a Community-Based Forest Management Agreement for them to plant, I guess, around 714 hectares of land with trees. After which they were granted with a Certificate of Stewardship Contract, which gave them the responsibility to take care of the replanted trees and at the same time the right to use arable land for agriculture.
Going to Mantiquil, Siaton, take a habal-habal (that's an improvised motorcycle that can carry 10 people and sacks of agricultural produce) from the town of Siaton in Negros Oriental. Fare is pegged at P100 to 120. You can add more if you think the driver deserves it, considering the rough road and the absence of passenger on his way back to the town proper.
I heard that the forests here still has rare birds and a few rare flora and fauna.
Most of the arable land is planted with sugarcane owned by rich businessmen from the city. There used to be cassava plantations here for the bio-ethanol plant near the town proper, but since the tractors of the plant was burned down by elements of the New People's Army, the plant abandoned the project for the meantime. The farmers also realized that after their first harvest, the plant was not serious in keeping its part of the bargain and such, the farmers now refused to sell to the plant. Although the plant claimed that it already owns the 10,000 hectare of land in the Tamlang Valley by virtue of lease from the Provincial Government. The farmers are not aware of this, and believes that the land they till is their own. Of course, they have no other source of income but the land that they and their ancestors have tilled for generations.
It is not a surprise why there is so much discontent in the area.
My gratitude to Melody (village treasurer of Mantiquil), Ptr. Millares and his family, Renz (one of our guides), PFC Medez, the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, and the CAFGUs from the 12th IBPA.
More pictures coming...
(Photo credit: Simon Litalien and Tribong Upos)