Feature - Issue #13
Harnessing the guiding light of their traditions and beliefs, the Indigenous Manobo youth of Bukidnon, in the Philippines, are leading the way in preserving their land and culture.
“Of the mountains” - that’s what Bukidnon means, and here in Santo Domingo, this couldn’t be any more true. In this landlocked village, the mountains are everywhere. The peaks soar and dive into a rugged and undulating rim. In most parts, the mountains are green and grand, lush and vibrant with ancient, misty forests. In others, the land is a patchwork - the browns and yellows of agricultural fields. Santo Domingo is found in Quezon - a municipality on the southern fringes of the province of Bukidnon in northern Mindanao. Getting here from the province’s capital of Malaybalay requires crossing streams and plying through narrow unpaved roads.
Robert Mansalo-on Cahapon, 28, was born and raised in this village. A member of the Manobo community, one of the seven Indigenous groups that reside in Bukidnon, he knows the summits and the valleys as if they were beloved siblings. The land is not just his home, it is his kin. He is of the mountains.
After finishing school, Robert left Santo Domingo and worked for environmental organisations in different regions. “I kept going to other places, implementing these development programmes,” says Robert in Tagalog. “I thought, ‘Why can’t I do it in our community?’”
So, a few years later he returned, bearing the kindling of a dream that would later ignite and become the Salumayag Youth Collective for Forests.
Robert Mansalo-on Cahapon and youth volunteer Ranel Manggatawan in the mountainous landscape of Santo Domingo.
Feature - Issue #13
The Colour of Transformation
Introduction by Bryony Benge-Abbott with photography by Ewelina Ruminska
Dialogue - Issue #13
My Local Pond is Disappearing and I Can’t Stop Watching
Words by Diyora Shadijanova with illustration by Amelia Rouse
Interview - Issue #13
Koji is Community
Interview by Josephine Marchandise with Pao-Yu Liu with photographs by David Reeve
Re-Indigenising the Land
Manobo community member Robert Mansalo-on Cahapon holding a native tree seedling from Salumayag’s nursery.
Robert Mansalo-on Cahapon and youth volunteer Ranel Manggatawan in the mountainous landscape of Santo Domingo.
Portrait of Ranel Manggatawan - a volunteer for the Salumayag Youth Collective for Forests.
Portrait of Umud, Robert’s aunt, who belongs to the few remaining households that still practice traditional Manobo farming. Here, she holds a woven basket made of rattan and climbing bamboo - used for storing live catch from the river.
Ranel demonstrates a traditional implement called galingan to batu which translates as “stone mill”. Here, he mills adlai, a staple food crop of the Manobo.
The adlai is then pounded to further separate the grain from the chaff.
The grains are then winnowed using a woven circular basket.
An aerial view of Ranel Manggatawan’s land. Here, he incorporates the Manobo’s traditional agroecology, growing a diverse host of food crops along with native trees.
Salumayag regularly holds libulung - a gathering for dialogues. In one such session, they facilitate a “community mapping” where the farmers create a hand-drawn map of their village.
In this outdoor space, Salumayag displays photos as a way to open and share conversations on nature and culture and support school children with their assignments.
After the waterfall storytelling session, the group share a lunch of root crops and foraged food.
The salumayag tree is culturally and economically significant to the Manobo.
The youth of Salumayag are not alone in their efforts. Many adults in the community support their initiatives. One of them is 40-year-old Romy Mailangyag who serves as the group’s main guide and chaperone in their forest “learning walks”. The kids fondly call him “Angkol” - a variation of uncle.
In one of Salumayag “learning walks”, the group went to a sampaw - a waterfall - where they changed into traditional clothing and listened to stories.
