Alfred P. Dizon
(Rocky Ngalob, regional information
officer of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples in Cordillera writes
this week’s column)
More than a hundred food packs, composed of five kilos of rice, eight assorted
canned goods, a kilo vegetables each, were distributed to stranded indigenous
peoples (IP) students from Besao, Mountain Province who are all currently
studying in Baguio and nearby La Trinidad, Benguet.
All IP student beneficiary hail from Besao. One of the remotest
municipalities of Mountain Province situated at the west most part and boundary
area between the province of Abra. Students came to Baguio, the education
capital of the north, with the aim to attain formal education.
Cordillera values of Binnadang and Inayan
Aiding stranded IP students
in Baguio and La Trinidad or anyone who are in distress is an expected practice
from the IPs of Cordillera. The Binnadang
values between and among the IPs of Cordillera is predicated on the norm; in
times of crisis and/or distress, all should be united and collectively lend a
hand to those who are in need.
Time and again, in the Cordillera, this value was reflected in times of
floods, landslides, earthquakes, famine, drought etc. It is inherent to all
Cordillerans. It is a non-reciprocal aid to fellow Cordillerans which emanates
from the heart; it is voluntary, immediate, direct, and automatic.
Another inherent value from the IPs, especially to Mountain Province, is
the infamous Inayan or the
recognition of karma and/or the fear from their supreme deity, Kabunian. Most of the time, Inayan plays as the unseen conscience
of the IPs of the Cordillera. Inayan
keeps you up at night. It is akin to a toothache if you’re at fault; or an itch
that needs scratching, if you just sat on the fences doing nothing knowing that
you could’ve done something for the distress populace.
Even when not affected by calamities, Cordillerans especially the
farmers, whom have less financial capacity in life, have tons of vegetables to
give. One may recall the vegetables sent to stricken communities of Tagaytay
when Taal volcano erupted or the truck loads of Sayotes to the surviving families of the earthquake that hit
Mindanao. Not to mention that they are still sending vegetables to the LGUs of
Manila for distribution as relief despite that, they themselves, are
experiencing hunger due to the lockdown.
Living the IP values
Still conscious with the IP
values of Binnadang, lawyer
Atanacio Addog, likewise of Besao or self-ascribed as Applai IP group, after having attained his formal education and
now seated as the regional legal officer of the National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples – Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP – CAR), always
looks back to his community and its values and extends his services by
distributing relief packs to the stranded students.
Addog squeezes time from his busy schedule to repack reliefs for the
stranded IP students. He also volunteers his vehicle and likewise drive
the same in delivering repacked reliefs to students. In his regular time, under
the ‘work from scheme’ apart
from his legal functions, he coordinates with projects proponents situated
within the Ancestral Domains as to the compliance of their obligations
stipulated in their Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with host IP communities. A
lawyer by profession and true blue IP by blood and heart.
According to him, reliefs came from the joint efforts of the some IPs in
Besao residing in Baguio and LaTrinidad along with the Local Government Unit
(LGU) of Besao who happens to be IPs themselves.
Addog sees himself as a young lad through the IP students who are also
striving to attain formal education here in the city while being away from
their families trying to make ends meet through the meager ‘padala’ coming from their
parents.
“In the City, IP students stick and fend for each other. This way, they
compensate, even just for a moment, their home sickness. Most of these IP
students are renting boarding houses and/or dormitories in the City. For their
sustenance, most students, especially those non-working students, rely solely
to the ‘padala’ from their
parents. And when these ‘padala’
gets temporarily stalled due to the lockdown, the Binnadang value steps in,” said Addog.
He added this situation is not isolated as the rest of the IP students
studying in Baguio and La Trinidad coming from the different provinces in CAR,
not only in Mountain Province, share the same problems in this time of crisis.
Even then, LGUs from the different provinces of CAR are going the extra
mile, extending efforts to aid other stranded IP students.
In their previous delivery of food packs last April 18, 2020, stranded
IP students from Besao were reminded by Addog and other volunteers to standby
and not to leave their boarding houses. “Sed-en
yu nan watwat yu ta e danon mi isnan pantew yu” (Your share of relief
packs will be delivered at your doorstep).
Addog disclosed that they were able to secure a good number of oversized
chickens, and that they will be butchering the same to be distributed to the
stranded students. Addog assures that they will be butchering the chickens following
the process of Pikpik (The
chicken will be beaten softly through its neck and wings so that the blood
inside the chicken will coagulate. Then the chicken will be thrown at an open
fire until feathers are burned off). Burned feathers and skin along with the
coagulated blood of the chicken gives flavoring and aroma to the Pinikpikan (famous dish of the IPs in
Cordillera).
“It’s been more than a month since the quarantine was imposed, for sure
these stranded IP students are craving for Pinikpikan”, said Addog.
Other extended efforts
Just days after the
lockdown was imposed, LGUs and other kind hearted IPs of CAR sent vehicles to
fetch IP students stranded in Baguio. According to Addog, they received report
that LGUs from the provinces of Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province sent
vehicles to ferry stranded IP student back to their homes in the
province.
Some students boarded these vehicles while some opted stay behind in
Baguio and La Trinidad. They have no choice but to stay behind because their
schools resumed its online classes; and that there is scarcity of internet
connection and mobile signal in the remote areas of their provinces in
CAR.
“Wasdin mang kawwan as salun-at na amed
adwani ay didigra tapno mawakgat nan batawa et awnet kasiyana” (Collectively, we take of each other in this trying
tribulation as when the new day breaks, we’ll get back to what it was before.
This too shall pass!)
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