‘Pepeng’ draws out best in Igorot culture

‘Pepeng’ draws out best in Igorot culture
By Maurice Malanes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: October 27, 2009

THE SHAKEN EARTH AND floodwaters from Tropical Depression “Pepeng’s” fury may have begun to settle so survivors can now rebuild or relocate homes, replow farms, and repair roads and bridges.

Rehabilitating the damaged infrastructure and property requires billions of pesos, which, officials admit, is a big challenge for a cash-strapped government. The other concern is how to fast-track it so isolated farming communities, such as those in the Cordillera, can resume transporting their chayotes, cabbages, carrots and potatoes.

But there is yet a bigger issue: How to restore hope among orphaned survivors whose dreams were snatched when their elders were buried in landslides or drowned in floodwaters?

The good news is that in all these challenges, something in the culture of northern Luzon folk has not changed. The trait of being each other’s keeper and the tradition of volunteerism have helped the people cope with the extent of Pepeng’s devastation.
Such culture has helped fill in gaps and lapses in governance.

For example, when Pepeng slowed down on Oct. 10, officials and residents of Kibungan town in Benguet came out with shovels and picks to help clear the roads of landslides and debris.

Mayor Benito Siadto says the landslides were so enormous that residents had to augment with sheer brawn the municipal government’s lone pay loader.

Community spirit

The strong sense of cooperative self-help and community spirit is also alive in other Cordillera towns.

Leaders of the towns of Bakun and Kabayan, also in Benguet, report that they used the relief supplies they received for “food-for-work” projects.

Instead of simply doling out to survivors a few kilos of rice, canned goods and instant noodles, Bakun and Kabayan officials say they gave these items as incentives to those who helped repair the roads and bridges.

Kabayan Mayor Faustino Aquisan commends the village chair of Tinongdan in Itogon town for accommodating stranded motorists from Kabayan at the height of Pepeng in their barangay hall and feeding them.

“Please tell us when you (Tinongdan folk) will celebrate your village fiesta so we can bring you cabbages, pising (gabi or yam leaves) and red rice,” Aquisan announced recently over radio station dzWT. It was his way of expressing gratitude to them.

In Sagada, Mt. Province, members of tourist guide organizations lost no time in soliciting help from town mates so they could immediately send relief supplies to survivors of mudslides in Tadian town, the Cordillera People’s Alliance reported.

In upland areas of the Cordillera, the people have resorted to the ob-obfu or binnadang (labor exchange) to repair damaged homes, rice terraces, irrigation systems and bridges.

Rebuilding hopes

But as homes, farms and other infrastructures are being rebuilt, the hopes and dreams of survivors of the last storm must also be restored.

“When the earth and waters settle down, I know for sure that those left behind will be on their own. It’s time for us to come in,” Harry Basingat, a retired Igorot professional based in California, says in a letter to members of Bibaknet, an online network of Igorots here and abroad.

Basingat and his colleagues have been discussing online how best they could help, particularly those who were orphaned after Pepeng triggered killer landslides that left more than 300 people dead, many of them in Benguet and Mt. Province.

“We finally decided to focus on the education of children orphaned by Pepeng,” says Jerome Gawidan, a Baguio City-based Bibaknet member and businessman.

Bibaknet has been setting aside funds for immediate relief supplies, such as food and clothing.

“We also want to provide something to the orphans that will last a lifetime—education,” says Basingat, the online moderator of the Bibaknet e-group.

Immediately after this decision, members started pledging money for its Bibaknet Education Scholarship Fund (BESF). Some have committed from $100 (P4,699) to P100,000, though the network can accept even a peso or a dollar.

“Any amount will be gladly accepted so I don’t see why anyone would ignore this loud call,” says Basingat. “Nothing is too small that comes from the heart. Not getting involved is just another personal option that we can choose.”

The fund began in 2005 to support the education of the orphaned children of Andy Dumawa, a Bibaknet member, who was killed in an accident on the Halsema Highway on his way home to Mt. Province.

As the e-group’s online moderator, Basingat regularly posts all names of donors and the amount pledged, including those of anonymous benefactors.

Warmth of ‘dap-ay’

BESF board member Marilou Delson Fang-asan, who is based at the Benguet State University, is coordinating with government agencies in the affected towns to identify orphaned survivors whom the group can help send to school.

The ease and spontaneity of help from the Igorot peoples for the orphaned could be traced to what Basingat calls the “warmth of the dap-ay, which is meant to be shared for those out in the cold.”

The dap-ay is the basic sociopolitical institution in Mt. Province where elders teach children about social responsibility, among other things.

Fr. Rex Reyes, National Council of Churches in the Philippines general secretary, agrees with Basingat.

Reyes, who visited Mt. Province after Pepeng left, says the Igorot could again pick up the pieces because of their strong community support system of helping each other, in good times and in bad.