Let's Adventure to Mindoro!

In the Philippines, when the rest of the population goes to sleep, a reclusive community of indigenous people prepares for another restless night of fear and uncertainty.

Far away in the dense, dark forests of Occidental Mindoro, where Mangyan people are scattered in small remote settlements, tribal leaders now routinely contemplate their future in feverish debates that usually last until daybreak.

"We are petrified that big mining companies will take over our ancestral land. If the government gives them license to operate, our land and heritage will be lost forever," says Juanito Lumawig. The 62-year-old supreme leader of all seven tribes of Mangyan is a worried man. For him, it is a battle for survival for his people, who for centuries have inhabited the rough and hard-to-reach highlands of this Philippine island.

Over 40,000 hectares of land, including vast swathes of forest is claimed by Mangyan as their ancestral domain. The land is believed to be rich in gold, natural gas and minerals worth many millions of dollars. The stakes are high and Mangyan are against all odds. In numbers, they are an ethnic and linguistic minority group of fewer than 25,000. Not only are the Mangyan physically and socially isolated from the rest of the Filipino population, they are also among the poorest and most marginalised.

A Mangyan family earns on average just $0.34 a day. Nine out of ten Mangyan have poor access to safe drinking water and the majority are illiterate. Historically nomadic and forest gatherers, the tribes often struggle to feed themselves, particularly during the rainy season which lasts four months. It is such a routine part of their life that they refer to it as "hungry period" like any other season of the year. The consequences are obvious as 60 per cent of Mangyan children are malnourished and infant mortality rates are so high that a child is considered fortunate to reach the age of ten.

Nowhere to go

Generations of isolation, discrimination and historical encroachment of their land by others have left Mangyan untrusting and fearful of the outside world. "First the lowlanders invaded our land and forced us to move to highlands and now we might be driven out again. Only this time we have nowhere to go," says Yagay Sebastian, leader of Buhid - one of the seven Mangyan tribes.

According to the government regulations, all indigenous peoples like Mangyan tribes must prove their ownership of the land they claim as rightfully theirs through title deeds and legally valid documentation. Given that majority of Mangyan are illiterate with limited contact with the outside world, their ability to support their claim is fraught with great challenges rendering them even more vulnerable.

"The threat of commercial exploitation of Mangyan's ancestral domain is real. Mining activities can pose threat to local environment and this may also result in displacement of the indigenous people," says Reynante Luna, Provincial Officer of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

The Commission, set up by the national government, is mandated to promote and protect the best interests of the indigenous people. It was created after the Philippines government passed the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act to recognise indigenous peoples' communal and individual rights to their ancestral land along with their rights to self-governance, empowerment, social justice and human rights. However, nearly 15 years after enacting the law, very little has changed for Mangyans. "They remain among the poorest of the poor, still at the fringes of national priorities," says Diana San Jose, an anthropologist who is supporting Mangyan tribes as they compile evidence for their legal claim.

In the absence of a legal title, it will be a greater struggle for Mangyan tribes to challenge commercial use of their land. Luna confirms there are three pending applications related to commercial mining in the Provincial Office record alone. However, he assures that these applications will undergo field based investigation to determine if they overlap with any ancestral domain. "It will also be referred to the concerned local government for any existing moratorium on mining," he says.

This is no reprieve for Mangyan people. Even with all caveats, overlapping jurisdictions of local municipalities and national government have created gaping legal loopholes that make the situation worse for Mangyan. Ask Ed Gadiano, mayor of Sablayan - the largest municipality by area in the whole of Philippines. "Four years ago, Sablayan declared a moratorium on large scale mining for 25 years. Despite this, the national government granted exploration permit to a mining company on 9700 hectares of land," he says. With Gadiano's administration refusing to accept the occupation fee, the mining company has deposited 2 million pesos in a local court.

Minor successes

Already battling with severe poverty and exclusion, excessively private Mangyans are finding themselves in a morass of overwhelming bureaucracy. Most cannot comprehend that the land they have tilled and worshipped for centuries now requires a proof of ownership. They are relying on support from local and international community development organisations like Plan International to save the environment that they have strong spiritual and cultural connections with. "Some Mangyan tribes have already been awarded title of their ancestral land. We are assisting those who are still in the process," says Naty Silorio, a senior Plan official overseeing development projects with the Mangyan in the region.

Since 2005, Plan has been actively engaged in child-centred community development for Mangyan. "We are working with the local government in enabling the community to secure their rights and preserve their culture," says Silorio. For title claim, the organisation with support from the European Union is assisting Mangyan to survey their land, create 3D maps of their domain and document their oral history which is replete with references to geographical landmarks.

Securing the title is just the beginning for Mangyan as they head for even more testing times ahead. Leader Lumawig laments: "Our people have been offered bribes and some have ended up signing consent forms seeking commercial use of our land. We feel helpless and totally powerless."

Frustration is growing among Mangyan, but, just like the forests they inhabit, their dissent is remarkably peaceful. Shaken, they are resting their hopes on their ancestors to guide them through. "Non-violence is part of our beliefs. Our ancestors told us that God created the forests for Mangyan. I am sure they will protect us," hopes Lumawig. He believes he stands a chance with his prayers.


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Cora Senigman, an Alangan-Mangyan, went to town to sell six kaings (large baskets) of calamansi she and five other Mangyans harvested for three days. The merchandiser wanted to buy her produce at P1 per kilo. The total amount would not even cover her transportation expenses. Refusing to be fooled and out of frustration, she just threw away the calamansi.

Rowena Lindog, a Tadwayan-Mangyan from Socorro, Oriental Mindoro, said the merchandiser bought their camote, a root crop, at P10 for three kilos.

Yamo Bangdayan, a Hanunuo-Mangyan from Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, told Bulatlat.com that merchandisers buy 100 pieces of banana for P50 and five kilos of camote for P60 to P70.

Luz Brozula, director of the Integrated Development Program for Indigenous Peoples (IDPIP) of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP)-Southern Luzon Jurisdiction, said that Mangyans are often duped by capitalists because of their lack of formal education and because of their kindness.

“The pay we get could not compensate for our hard work,” Rowena, a mother of seven, said.

“We always experience hunger,” Cora, a mother of three, said.

Difficult Life

The Mangyans are the original inhabitants in Mindoro provinces. Divided in seven groups, they comprise 20 percent of the population of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, numbering more than 200,000.

Each of the seven groups—Hanunuo, Alangan, Gubatnon, Buhid, Bangon and Tadyawan—has its own language and traditions that they practice to this day.

Farming is their means of livelihood. They plant root crops such as gabi (taro) and camote (sweet potato), banana and vegetables. Many practice kaingin or slash-and-burn. Few are able to plant palay (rice) and raise poultry.

“We do many things in order to survive,” Cora said. “If one could not be done, we do the other,” she said, citing planting palay, selling banana or root crops or making charcoal.

Rice and pansit with sardine sauce is already a feast for Mangyans(Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)
Pastor Marcelo Carculan, chairman of the Mangyan group Hagibbat, related that San Miguel Corp. went to their community in Balao village, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro last April 10 and bought balinghoy (cassava), a root crop. “The Mangyans were told they would be paid P150 per kilo. They agreed, thinking it was P150 but it turned out to be P1.50 for every kilo,” Carculan said.

Mangyans who work in the farms of Tagalog farmers, are paid P150 a day. They are not provided food. For those who plant palay, Mangyans borrow P1,000 and pay four sacks of rice, Carculan said.

Cora, who lives in Dulangan tres village, Baco, Oriental Mindoro, is among those who plant palay in a land that has been covered by Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) since 1996.

“Even before the land was placed under CARP, we, the indigenous people, have cultivated it for many years. We were told that a landlord owns the land and we have to pay compensation,” Cora said.

In 1996, Cora said the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) pegged the compensation at P60,000 per hectare to be paid in a span ten years. In 2011, the compensation was increased to P100,000 per hectare. “Last April 8, the DAR told us to pay at the Landbank [of the Philippines]. How could we?” she said.

Cora said they harvest ten sacks for every hectare of land. Seven sacks go to DAR as payment for the land and only three are left with them. The supply would last for three months.

Although they work from dawn until night, they do not have enough food for their families.

“We eat camote or banana,” Cora said.

Yamo said they only eat rice once or twice a week. “If we have tiangge (small market), we can eat rice,” he said, but added that the local government is planning to ban tiangge in the communities.

Rowena said they seldom eat meat, only when they are able to raise poultry.

Cora said to be able to get more food for the children, many Mangyan women would pick palay from the thresher.

Deprived of Social Services


Aggravating their miserable economic conditions is the lack of government’s social services.

For one, health services are alien to most Mangyans.

Only during medical and dental missions such as this that Mangyans are able to avail free health services.(Photo by Angelica de Lara / bulatlat.com)
From Yamo’s place, for example, the nearest hospital is a ten-kilometer walk and a jeepney ride that cost P50. While there is a health center in Mansalay, Yamo said, a doctor is barely there.

Altang Dawsig, a Bangon-Mangyan from Lisap village in Bongabong town, Oriental Mindoro, said they have to walk the whole day to go to the nearest hospital. Altang said the village health center nearby collects fees and there is no doctor there most of the time.

“Many of our tribesmen die without reaching the hospital,” Altang said.

Malaria afflicts most of Mangyan communities. Many also die of tuberculosis.

Malnutrition rate is high among the children. Children die of treatable diseases such as diarrhea and measles.


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A story of hope for the Mangyan Tribe of Mindoro, a people who were never considered and for the most part, forgotten. This January sees the promise of a new and better life as they are given decent homes and livelihood programs.

Cheche Lazaro Presents. February 13, 2011. ABS-CBN.


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This elderly Mangyan from the Alangan tribe in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro may be too old to study. But hundreds of young indigenous peoples all over Mindoro island are aspiring to be educated. They want to preserve their culture passed from generations to generations but at the same time they desire to go beyond the basics of reading and writing.

But there’s little room for them in the past. And they still suffer from discrimination, sometimes from the very people who illegally claimed their ancestral lands.

Theirs is an almost forgotten group of indigenous peoples. 8 tribes in the island. 100 000 people. All of them aspiring to be educated just like any other Filipino in the country.

Sa lunes, sa The Correspondents, kamustahin natin ang mga Mangyan ng Mindoro at ang Tugdaan – ang paaralan ng mga Mangyan, para sa mga Mangyan.

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The Alangan forest people on the Philippine island of Mindoro are frightened. The sound of test drilling can be heard several places in the jungle they are dependent on. The land they have inherited from their ancestors is threatened by Norwegian mining operations.


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Do you believe you can do something to save Mindoro island and its people? Definitely yes! By sharing this video, more and more people will become aware of what's going on in this beautiful island. You can help us in this battle. Awareness is just the beginning, and we have to start it right now!

Start clicking and sharing our struggle! Let us stand for the wonderful people of Mindoro. Let us stand for the mother earth!

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MANILA, Philippines – Heritage covers such scope that its totality is difficult to grasp. Many of us compartmentalize heritage into one of its many components: music, dance, visual arts, architecture, literature, language, costumes, cuisine, depending on where our interests may happen to lie.

Often we fail to realize that all of the components interrelate, that each component forms a vital part that weaves into the splendid tapestry of our own national identity.

Focused (or hung up) as many of us might be on Philippine lowland Christian culture, our many cultural communities and indigenous peoples have gone unnoticed and misunderstood.

Among them are the Mangyans of Mindoro.

The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a population of 84 million speaking over 120 languages.

Out of the 110 indigenous peoples (IP) groups in the country today, only four still use their original scripts. Other ethno-linguistic groups now write in the Roman alphabet of the colonizers.

The endangered script of the Hanunuo and Buhid Mangyans from Mindoro, and of the Tagbanua and Palawan tribes from Palawan were declared National Cultural Treasures in 1997, and were inscribed in the Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Memory of the World Register in 1999.

However, the Hanunuo Mangyan script is very much alive and being taught in Hanunuo Mangyan schools.

Mangyan is the generic name for the eight IP groups found in the mountainous regions of Mindoro island—the Alangan, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunuo, Iraya, Ratagnon, Tadywan and Tau-buid, a combined population of 100,000.

Distinctive heritage

Mangyans, with eight different languages and cultural traditions, possess a rich and distinctive cultural and literary heritage. One manifestation is the various traditional musical instruments used during festivities, special occasions and for courting: guitar, violin, flute, gong, and jew’s-harp.

With a pointed knife, Hanunuo Mangyans inscribe notes and poems on bamboo trees in the forests or on bamboo slats. These ambahans—written or recited in poetic language—allegorically express situations or characteristics.

The Hanunuo and Buhid Mangyans weave and embroider their own traditional attire. The Iraya and Alangan Mangyans skillfully weave nito and rattan into elaborate baskets. The other groups also produce baskets, bags, hats, hammocks and other crafts made of forest vines, and all the eight tribes practice beadwork. These are a main source of their livelihood.

Mangyans plant upland rice, corn, beans, bananas and root crops using swidden farming done in total reverence for the environment.

Mangyans have strongly retained their cultural identity. Much of their traditions and beliefs are in practice, despite some having converted to Christianity. Intermarriage with non-Mangyans is limited.

The Mangyans, considered as the first inhabitants of the island of Mindoro, believe that “land is life” and from it emanates their distinct and rich culture.

Unfortunately they do not have security of land tenure. Their unrecognized traditional right over their ancestral domain is evident in the continuous influx of so-called government development projects. Private business interests have also harassed them: mining, tourism, hydro-power, and even reforestation. Illegal titling of lands by non-Mangyans also continues.

The implementation of these projects often undermines their culture and traditional right to protect, manage and utilize the resources in their ancestral domain. More important, the Mangyans have lost their land to these projects.

Mangyan settlements are mostly found in the interior, mountainous region of Mindoro, in land classified by the government as Forest Zone and Public Domain.

The Mangyans’ subsistence-level livelihood is based on swidden cultivation: planting upland rice, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, bananas, cassava, yams and other root crops.

The few with low-lying farmland in irrigated areas have ventured into lowland farming, planting cash crops and permanent crops, particularly fruit trees. Some gather vines and firewood.

Most Mangyan settlements are not accessible by road. Rivers that flood during the rainy season separate settlements from each other, often cutting off direct access to government social services like education and health.

Mangyan education

There are few public elementary schools, no public high school, and no functional health center. Public elementary schools in Mangyan communities usually do not offer all the elementary grade levels. Classes are multi-grade. Teachers do not report regularly. There are few or no books at all for students.

Students walk for hours and make numerous river crossings to go to school, which can be dangerous for young children.

High expenses prevent attendance by Mangyans in high school, which are situated in the lowlands. Individual sponsors or nongovernment organizations support the few who do finish secondary and tertiary levels. Functional literacy for adults and out-of-school youth is continuously provided by nongovernment organizations and, lately, by the government.

Aside from educational problems, there also exists a difficulty of access to government health units or health centers, which are located in town centers or lowland communities.

Few Mangyan local government units or barangays have been established. The majority of the Mangyan population belongs to lowlander-led barangay units.
Before the last decade, no Mangyan was elected to a municipal or higher position, further limiting the indigenous people’s opportunities to be heard and to participate in decision-making. There are also very few Mangyan government employees.

Discrimination by lowlanders hinders Mangyans from attaining the development level they deserve. Lowlanders often buy their products at very low prices. Often the Mangyans are exploited.

The Mangyan situation illustrates the complexity of heritage conservation. To preserve the endangered traditional script, language, literature, crafts and lifestyle, there is need to improve their education, livelihood and governance.

However, any government or NGO assistance given to the Mangyans must not be done in an insensitive manner. Any kind of help must be granted with vision—in the framework of true understanding of the Mangyan culture, ensuring its preservation, but also giving the people the benefits of the 21st century.

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See forwarded media reports below of hunger strike by Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines in Manila, outside the headquarters of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, in relation to the issuance of a mining concession in the Mangyans ancestral lands and watershed area for the Island of Mindoro (details at http://earthjedi.blogspot.com ). The latest news is that someone has also started a hunger strike in Rome at the World Food Summit in protest against the issuance and project.

The strike is having some effect as Secretary of the DENR Atienza is coming under pressure as a result of the national and international press coverage to justify his decision and Intex's shares were halted on the Oslo stock exchange as they fell due to bad publicity and uncertainty. However we need to put as much pressure on the Government of the Philippines (and also the company Intex Resources of Norway and the Norwegian Government) to cancel the Environment Clearance Certificate, as they have already attempted to fluff the issue by saying they will suspend the ECC for 90 days - i.e. to end the hunger strike and then have mining proceed as planned. The hunger strikers have rightly described this as a sham and decided to continue with their action until the ECC is cancelled.

The last of the two reports attached below are Support Statements that the Working Group on Mining in the Philippines and LRC have sent to the hunger strikers. PLEASE SEND LETTERS OF SUPPORT TO: roslynarayata@yahoo.com.ph; nc@alyansatigilmina.net; whit@piplinks.org ; lodel@piplinks.org


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Festival incorporating the exhibition of the cultural heritage of Mindoro’s ethnic communities.

For more information please contact:

San Jose Tourism Office
Tel. No. (632)89235.45 to 46

Another eleven (11) Mangyan Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Elementary Education graduates passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) given by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) in September 2008.

Some of these board passers are already teaching in Mangyan community schools as professional and volunteer teachers.

1. Erol Antaw, full-time teacher, Mangyan Education Center (MEC, a private secondary school) in Bait, Mansalay

2. Atoy Tugas, full-time teacher, Akliang Primary School, Bongabong

3. Noel Taywan, municipal-funded teacher, Paitan Elementary School

4. Nelsa Banay, municipal-funded teacher, San Roque Elementary School

Taywan and Banay teach a class composed of Mangyans and Tagalogs (lowlanders).

5. Mayette Espiritu, Tauga Diit Primary School in Bongabong

6. Laarni Reyes, Iblagon Primary School in Roxas

7. Uyan Rag-op, Abintang Primary School in Bulalacao

Espiritu, Reyes and Rag-op are currently on their community service as volunteer teachers as part of their college scholarship grant received from Mangyan Mission (MM).

8. Rolyn Banay

9. Alicia Baruyot

10. Jessica Gawid

11. Darwin Ondoy

The last four are fresh graduates who opted to pass the LET first before taking on the responsibility of teaching. Some took their oath as professional teachers last December 6 at the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) in Lucena City.

Some of these Mangyan LET passers were MM scholars and Provincial Planning Development Office (PPDO) scholars. MM scholars are expected to complete one year of community service in different Mangyan communities after they finish their degrees. They receive Php 2,000.00 as their monthly allowance as teachers.

Two other Mangyans passed the LET given last April.

Today, Oriental Mindoro has 172 Mangyan teachers educating children and youths in far-flung Mangyan villages. Out of these 172, forty (40) are LET passers.

Mangyans find it difficult to pass the LET because their English comprehension is not that good and they find it difficult to express themselves in a language rarely heard and used in their communities.

“ALAMAT NG MGA PUTING MANGYAN”
(Myth of the White Mangyans)
An I-Witness documentary
Aired last January 28, 2008
GMA-7 / Pinoy TV

Howie Severino travels to Mindoro to investigate the legend of “lost tisoys,” a tribe of Mangyans called Olandes, mountain people in Mindoro descended from shipwrecked Dutch sailors.

Various people give conflicting accounts, including a scholar who proclaims that the “white Mangyans” are a myth, along with other popular beliefs such as Mangyans with tails.

But are the white Mangyans really a myth? In a Mangyan tiangge in the remote village of Bait, Howie is told of Mangyan tisoys in the local high school. He finds them there and learns they come from a mountain community called Panaytayan.

But it is not what he expected.
Descending not from Dutch sailors from centuries ago, the tisoys are four children of a Dutch priest who married a Mangyan and has lived in splendid isolation for four decades. He is now among the foremost experts on Mangyan culture. In the village, he has set up institutions designed to teach and preserve ancient tribal practices such as the script, music, and weaving.

His daughter Anya is a 23-year-old tisay who proudly calls herself a Mangyan and is following her father’s footsteps in championing the Mangyan while presenting a new face of the tribe to the outside world.

She accompanies her bahag-clad, betel-chewing uncle Anheng as he ventures down the mountain to town, faces of the old and the new Mangyan. As Anya and her siblings age and produce families of their own, the myth of the Olandes village may yet become a reality.

Cinematography: Egay Navarro
Director: JJ Villamarin
Field producer: Rommel Bernardo
Executive producer: Ella Evangelista

By ROBERT A. EVORA

CALAPAN CITY — The indigenous people of Oriental Mindoro, speaking through the local office of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), clarified reports that they were participants in a consultative assembly (CCA) held recently in Sablayan town, Occidental Mindoro.

"It (the consultation) is very misleading as far as the NCIP in Oriental Mindoro is concerned, and we have nothing to do with that FPIC (free and prior informed consent) consultation," said Reynante Luna, Oriental Mindoro NCIP provincial officer.

A statement issued by Intex Resources Philippines Inc., a mining company, said that the "Mangyans, an indigenous tribe, native to Mindoro, are now in the final stage of formalizing a memorandum of agreement that would allow a mining company to explore for nickel deposits in their ancestral lands."

"Di totoo yan (that’s not true)," Oriental Mindoro Gov. Arnan C. Panaligan said when he was informed of the MoA signing between the Mangyans and Intex executives.

"How can the Mangyans of Oriental Mindoro formalize an MoA for a free prior informed consent when they were not consulted by NCIP of the province? That consultation was held in Sablayan in Occidental Mindoro by that province’s NCIP provincial officer, and so it goes to show that our natives in Oriental Mindoro have nothing to do with that MoA the Intex people are bragging about," a local official said.

Oriental Mindoro, not Occidental Mindoro, is the impact area" of the 10,000-hectare Mindoro nickel project, operated by Intex Resources in Barangay Villa Cerveza, Victoria town, this province. "Di po namin alam ang nasabing consultation, at walang coordination sa amin (NCIP)," Luna said. "We are not questioning the process that they are undertaking, but we can’t be a part of the consultation process to protect the best interest of the indigenous people (IP) of Oriental Mindoro," Luna said.

He also said that the IPs of Oriental Mindoro were not told of that community consultative assembly held last July 12 in Occiental Mindoro.

The CCA is a process to get the FPIC as required by Republic Act No. 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act.

Mining companies are required by the law to secure FPIC before they can explore or exploit mineral resources in ancestral lands.

Earlier, Provincial Legal Officer Lorybelle M. Tanyag served a cease-and-desist order (CDO) to Engineer Narcisa Eder, Occidental Mindoro NCIP provincial officer. The CDO prevented the NCIP officer "from pursuing your consensus-building activities and any other activities in furtherance of and/or preparatory to all forms of mining operations within the territorial jurisdiction of Oriental Mindoro."