MANILA, Philippines – The mountain peaks of Bamban, Tarlac already provide a picturesque view of lush forests, but one male Aeta has bigger dreams for the place he calls home.  

Edwin Lacsamana, a 47-year-old native pastor in Sitio Baguingan in Barangay Sto Niño, hopes to see more fruit-bearing trees dotting the view.

“Ang pinaka-pangunahing problema dito [ay] kinakailangang makapagtanim kami ng mga matataas na kalidad ng prutas (The primary problem here is that we need to plant high quality fruits),” he said, adding that the Aetas’ current fruit and root crop harvests do not give them enough income.

“Ang mabenta lang dito ay yung gabing itinatanim. Nasa P1,000 hanggang P3,000 ang isang sako. Kaya lang, kailangan mo rin ng kalabaw doon pang-araro ng lupa, panghakot,” he said. (The bestseller here is the taro we plant. It’s sold at P1,000 to P3,000 per sack. However, you also need a carabao to till the land and to transport the sacks.)

The Aetas then need to walk around 5 kilometers down the mountain and to spend another 45 minutes riding a kolong-kolong, a tricycle with a roofless sidecar, before reaching the main city proper. The unpaved mountain trails are difficult to navigate when it rains as well.

“May discrimination din sa mga unat (There’s also discrimination from the lowlanders),” said Lacsamana, recounting instances when Aetas were forced to move their sidewalk stalls because the city folk selling their own products would order them to move.

“Yung katutubo ngayon, uusog. Mawawalan na siya ng puwesto! (So the native will have to move. He’ll lose the selling spot then!)” he exclaimed with a scratch on the head.

Without a market to sell their products, the Aetas find it difficult to buy food to eat. They end up just eating their own harvests, which mostly include root crops and a limited number of fruits like banana and papaya. (READ: What a ‘Pinggang Pinoy’ should look like)

These are the problems that non-governmental organization (NGO) Golden Grip Universal Foundation plans to address by introducing their Food Forest Project to Sitio Baguingan.

Sustainable food source

Golden Grip is coordinating with government agencies like the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plants and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to provide the Aetas with more fruit-bearing trees and lumber seedlings.

Castor seeds, whose oil can be manufactured for medicinal purposes, will also be planted in the mountains together with other vegetable crops.

With help from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the NGO has also provided the Tarlac natives with more than 2,000 tilapia fingerlings.

According to Golden Grip president Maria Magdalena Ip, the short-term goal for the project is to provide the Aetas with food to eat. In the long run, they want to help the natives sell their products.

“Hindi sustainable ang isang livelihood if there is no buying power. And that’s what we established. We’ll see to it na may babagsakan [ang magiging produkto ng mga Aetas],” she said. (A livelihood isn’t sustainable if there is no buying power. And that’s what we established. We’ll see to it that the Aetas’ future products will be sold.)

On one level, the Aetas of Barangay Sto Niño can be considered lucky for they have ownership of their ancestral lands.

In 2009, a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title for 10,323 hectares of land was granted to the indigenous people living in Barangays Sto Niño, San Nicolas, San Vicente, Anupul, and Calumpang in Bamban, Tarlac and parts of Barangay Marcos in Mabalacat City, Pampanga.

However, Lacsamana said finding sustainable sources of livelihood is still a problem for many of them. The Food Forest Project is thus a welcome alternative.

A multi-purpose solution

Apart from giving them something to eat, the Food Forest Project will also help satisfy the Aetas’ changed food preferences.

According to Lacsamana, they used to eat fruits, vegetables, and the animals they were able to hunt in the mountains.

However, their taste for food changed when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991.

“Nung pumutok yung bulkan, nung nakihalubilo na kami sa iba’t ibang tao sa resettlement [areas]… pinakain kami ng Payless, sardinas. Doon na nagsimula,” shared Lacsamana.

(When the volcano erupted and we were able to interact with people from the other communities, we were able to eat food like Payless and sardines. That’s where it started.)

Since then, the Aetas began to crave for other food like rice, fish, noodles, canned goods, and coffee. At the same time, they realized the importance of having a well-balanced, nutritious diet. 

However, buying the ingredients became a problem for the Aetas over the years.

The resettlement areas were quite far from the mountains, where many of the natives still forage for crops as their livelihood. Thus, some Aetas eventually decided to return to the mountains.

Others, meanwhile, resorted to turning ipil-ipil wood into charcoal sold for around P150 per sack. (READ: Is the minimum wage enough for a day’s worth of nutritious meals?)

The areas where the Aetas make the charcoal are often far from their homes, prompting parents to bring along their children instead of sending them to school.

 “Hindi sila makapag-aral kasi doon din sa titirhan nila, wala rin silang mabibigay na pagkain [sa mga bata] (The children couldn’t study anymore because there is no food near the place where they live),” Lacsamana said.

With the Food Forest Project, however, the Aetas will at least be living closer to their food and livelihood sources.

“Yun yung kagandahan noon eh,” Lacsamana said. “Sa halip na pupunta pa ko sa baba para makabili ng isda, puwede ka nang makakuha ng isda dito.” (That’s the beauty of it. Instead of going down the mountain to buy fish, we can get fish directly from here.) – Rappler.com

Golden Grip is an NGO committed to provide education, livelihood, health, and medical assistance to several communities. If you want to extend help to their Food Forest Project or their other initiatives, you may reach them here. 

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