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The Anonang resettlement

Transforming the wilderness

By Montañosa Research and Development Center (MRDC)

First of two parts

In the dark year of 1988, seventy families from the villages of Ngibat and Buscalan of the Butbut tribe in Tinglayan, Kalinga were forced to leave their villages due to economic dislocation and incessant threats by the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA), a paramilitary group supported by the government since 1987.

The villagers’ exodus led them to the wild plains of Anonang in the municipality of Rizal, Kalinga. Armed only with hope and bonded by their common principles, the settlers braved a new and harsh environment in their struggle to survive.

The Montañosa Research and Development Center (MRDC), which had been working with the Butbut tribe in development works for some years, followed the internal refugees to their newfound land.

Amid anxieties and multifaceted challenges, both worked as partners in building a relatively peaceful community and persisted in turning the barren land into a fair hub of economic endeavors. This is their story.

A retrospect

In 1987, a strong earthquake wrought destruction to the villages in the municipality of Tinglayan. Hundreds of families were economically dislocated when soil erosion buried their ricefields and swidden farms.

During the same period, the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) had renounced the national democratic revolution in its desperate bid to establish a Cordillera nation. Consequently, it entered into a ceasefire with the government and declared war against its former comrades, the New Peoples Army (NPA). These revolutionaries-turned-terrorists deceitfully recruited the Butbuts into their ranks and pointed their guns to those who resisted. No one was spared. Even high impact projects built through community efforts were destroyed on mere allegations that these were constructed through the assistance of the NPA.

The seemingly endless harassments of the CPLA brought some high tension within the tribe where kin and clans were pitted against each other. In desperation, a large group of families from Ngibat and Buscalan opted to leave their villages. Nowhere to go, they were told about a vast tract of land in the municipality of Rizal which the elders had constantly speculated way back in 1973-74 in their effort to establish a Butbut settlement in the lowlands but it did not prosper, then, due to relentless tribal wars back home.

The place being referred to was a barren and open field located at the southwestern portion of Rizal, Kalinga. It was once a part of the sugar cane plantation of the Cagayan Sugar Company (CASUCO) until its foreclosure in the early 1980’s. Since then the land remained idle. Local residents call the place Anonang, which was derived from a name of a tree that once dominated the landscape. It could be reached from Tabuk, the capital town of Kalinga, by taking a bus or jeepney through the Tabuk-Tuguegarao National Road. One disembarks at the road junction going to Babalag, the town center of Rizal. From there, it will take a 3.8-kilometer hike along a tree-less foot trail passing through rolling to gently sloping terrain and narrow creeks.

The nearest settlements are Calaocan in the north, Romualdez in the south, Santor in the east, and Alibangbang and Bulala in the west. It has an elevation of approximately 250 meters above sea level. Cogon dominated the vegetation although thick forests covered the hills in the far west. Rains come from June to October while the dry season sets in from November to May.

The area was ostensibly uninviting. It seemed that everything was altered. While Tinglayan is mountainous, forested, with cool temperature and lots of flowing water, the new environment is characterized by barren and open fields, very limited water supply, and very hot temperature. The residents of Liwan, Rizal had even said that it was a favorite get-away route of cattle rustlers, highway robbers, and other criminal elements. Dreary as it may, the people decided to make a try considering that Anonang seemed to be the only open place for them lest they would have nowhere else to go.

In the month of February 1988, scores of able-bodied men entered the Anonang wilderness with their machetes, shovels, and carpentry tools. Through the traditional practice of abbuyog (cooperative labor), they started clearing the land, crafted cogon and bamboos for housing, and cut lumber at the dense forests located some 3 kilometers in the western hills. For the next several days, from sunrise to sunset, groups of men were seen weeding, hauling lumber, and building temporary shelters. It did not take long when several housing units were erected.

In March 7, 1988, the first batch among seventy family migrants started to move in amidst deep anxieties. Many of their village mates had accompanied them all the way and stayed there for several days to help in the construction of additional houses. Initial dwellings were made of bamboo and cogon with no flooring. Some family members slept on the dirt floor while others chose to sleep outside. To cook food, a hearth was made in one corner of the shed. Potable water was fetched from a small spring at the edge of the Anonang Creek more than two kilometers away. Taking a bath was then a luxury.

Since they still did not have a permanent source of subsistence, the settlers depended solely on food rations from their original settlements and minimal income gained from the sale of meager properties. For its part, the Ngibat Farmers Association (NFA) donated P20,000 for the procurement of additional food supplies and as a start-up capital for a cooperative store. Other institutions like the Montañosa Relief and Rehabilitation Services (MRRS) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) followed suit by distributing relief goods like clothing, sardines, rice, and other foodstuffs. Despite these efforts, life remained extremely hard with no respite in sight. Everything seemed hopeless.

MRDC assistance

In 1989, the women in Anonang formally sought MRDC’s assistance in the establishment of vital infrastructures. They said that MRDC is a reliable and sincere partner as proven by their previous experience with the Center in Ngibat and Buscalan. While they did not specify the projects that they needed, the miserable conditions in the new settlement said it all.

On May 28 of the same year, MRDC dispatched a team of organizers in the area to conduct community appraisal and feasibility studies relative to relief and food production. After ocular inspection and consultative meetings with the settlers, they pushed for the formation of an organizational structure to become the channel for communal decision-making and development initiatives. At first, organizing was limited among family heads and the leadership composition followed the traditional set-up where respected male elders made decisions in major community undertakings. Thus, the Anonang Council of Elders (ACE) was formed.

The members of the Council soon realized, however, that the organization should be inclusive of the other sectors in the community. Hence, the birth of Anonang Community Organization (ACO) in 1991, a community organization composed of three sectoral groups: Anonang Youth Organization (AYO), Anonang Women’s Association (AWA), and Anonang Council of Elders (ACE). While ultimate decisions are made by the General Assembly, the sectoral organizations and committees can resolve organizational and community matters as long as the decision does not violate ACO’s policies and principles. MRDC provided organizational development inputs during the re-structuring process.

The restructured organization had increased dynamism among the ranks of the sectoral organizations. As a result, ACO had succeeded to take action against the community’s state of underdevelopment. Through sheer gut and diplomatic coherence, ACO effectively put a stop to all illegal undertakings in its newly defined territory such as robbery, hold-up, deforestation, and cattle rustling.

People-oriented projects

The deteriorating food supplies in the resettlement site convinced MRDC to embark on immediate relief efforts. The opening of lands for upland rice and uma (swidden farm) production was enhanced through the distribution of farm tools and implements like crowbars, shovels, wheelbarrows, hoes, and hand trowels. Crowbar was the most essential tool back then considering that the soil had hardened after years of abandonment. In some sites, the soil became unyielding that the Center had to hire a tractor to finish the job.

From relief assistance, the support of the Center has evolved into agricultural production and management of community resources. The thrust to increase crop production was enhanced with the introduction of different kinds of organic vegetable seeds for uma cultivation. Complimentary to this, teams of ACO members were sent to the adjacent settlements to collect upland rice seeds and other planting cultivars as well as observe cropping systems and farm technologies as practiced by farmers.

The initiative to implant sustainable agriculture in food production was instantaneously challenged by modern farming. In their effort to bolster rice production the soonest, a considerable number of settlers had resorted to the use of high-yielding varieties and the attached technology. While this technology posed a detrimental effect to the environment, it also put pressure to their limited financial resources due to high cost of inputs. Its proliferation, however, was eventually checked when MRDC conducted a season-long Integrated Pest Management Seminar. In the process, it proved to the farmers that they could still plant HYVs sans the use of chemical farm inputs and yet, no substantial reduction in yield. In adherence to what they practically learned, the farmers collected all chemical pesticides and buried these in the ground.

From 1989 to 1996, MRDC had been providing technical and financial inputs to various projects of ACO some of which are listed below:

1. Carabao Dispersal Project: MRDC had supported ACO in the implementation of a Carabao Dispersal Project to ease farm work. From seven carabaos distributed by the center in 1989, the number has grown to 53 heads in 2003. However, this was reduced to 32 last March 2005. Accordingly, four (4) carabaos died while the rest were used for the following purposes:

a. ten (10) were sold to fund the establishment of a community defense unit (tribal wars are still prevalent spilling to all areas outside the ancestral domain);
b. two (2) were bartered for a set of gongs;
c. two (2) were sold for pasture development;
d. two (2) were used during the Anonang Day celebrations; and,
e. one (1) was used during the padornat (re-strengthening) of the bodong (peace pact) between the Butbut and Bangilo tribes.

The overall impact of the project has been positive. The presence of carabaos has reduced the time spent for land preparation from four days to just one day. Thus, the villagers have more time to engage in other activities. Higher production yield has been observed because the farmers are able to keep up with the schedule of the production cycle. In terms of gender roles, the project has eased the load of women in land preparation, which had been traditionally assigned to them.

Aside from farming, the carabao is also used to haul small logs and lumber for perimeter fencing of the pasture land and construction of public structures. It is also used to transport agricultural products and community supplies.

Funds have likewise been generated from the project. In the event that a carabao dies due to accident, the meat is sold and all proceeds are saved to finance small projects as well as community affairs.

Continued next week

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