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Forest management and utilization

By NARCISO ADDAMO, Guest columnist

(The guest columnist is a fourth year student of the Easter College Inc. in Baguio City, taking up Bachelor of Arts in Legal and Indigenous Studies.)

I witnessed during our immersion with fellow students from the Easter College that the I-Lamag (people of Lamag) in Quirino, Ilocos Sur practice indigenous system of forest management and utilization. They classify their forests into communal forest and clan forest.

Clan-owned forest belongs a to family or clan within the community and is termed Lacub in the community. It is only the member of the family or clan that can utilize the product of a clan-owned forest, usually for housing needs. A member of the community can acquire any product from a clan-owned forest provided that he acquires the consent of the eldest or member of the clan.

The communal forest, on the other hand, is owned by the whole community and is considered part of their territory with boundaries identified through indigenous system. They utilize, manage, and protect the communal forest through indigenous laws established by their ancestors.

Their communal forests include the mountains they named Palakiw, Mabuna, Ato, Lakkongen, Gadagad, Naitib, Paspasnong, Binnatog, and Badiyen. Various, plants, insects, animals and other living things are found in their forest. Among their activities in forest utilization are honey gathering and hunting.

The elders we interviewed claim that neighboring villages are allowed to hunt in their communal lands as sharing among the communities and nearby villages is tradition they practice. However, ownership of the area still belongs to the community.

The elders added that visitors are allowed to experience honey-gathering activities in their forests.

My classmate form Easter College, Belinda Ngiwas, identified some of the common animals being hunted by I-Lamag. The animals include alingo (wild pig), ugsa (deer), baniyas (edible lizard), mutit (fox), bakes (monkey) etc. In the earlier days, hunters usually use hunting dogs, gayang or tubay (spear), silo (trap net), and trap.

At present, hunting guns are used. Hunters share their game with their companions as a tradition. Hunting season falls on the months of September, October and January where field and agricultural works do not demand much time. As hunting is done only during the said season, the rest of the period allows the growth and breeding of the hunted animals.

Belinda found out that hunters practice rituals related with hunting. In the forest, the hunters prepare dalikan (fireplace made up of three stones) and butcher a chicken as an offering to the gods and their ancestors for a blessed and productive hunting.

I also found out that the I-Lamag prohibit the conversion of forests into an “uma” (swidden farm) but instead allow the “uma” to be done in “karuruutan” or “wellawel” (grass lands) areas. The elders in the community impose multa or fine to any violators on the established community norms on forest utilization. The multa is usually agreed upon by the elders in the dap-ay or indigenous socio-political system after hearing the side of the violator. The most common violations noted are forest fires and taking of lumber without permission.

Like other indigenous forest systems in the Cordillera, the I-Lamag forests are being threatened. Communities trace this threat from the state policy that the latter owns the forest and the resources located therein. Presidential Decree 705 or the Revised Forestry Code reiterated the mentioned policy. The elders said that this state policy is contradictory to their indigenous system of ownership, utilization, management, and protection of their forest.

They have proven to maintain their system by their collective struggle against the Cellophil Resources Corporation (CRC) which was given a permit by former Pres. Marcos to log their communal forest in the 1970’s. #

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