Establishing The Jungle Camp

One of the pack horses is loaded for the journey into the forest. the horses here are small (ponies really) but are very stong.  They also appear well cared for, with healthy coats and none of the harness sores you see in some other countries.

The first step in starting the suvey of the wildlife of the forests was to set up a camp within the jungle.  We were looking ideally for old growth forest, but due to timber poaching the best we could find was secondary forest – areas where tree had been cut in the past but where the forest had re-grown. 

Because the area is not accessible by vehicles we hired three pack horses to carry the equipment into the forest – a distance of about three kilometers from the dirt road, across steeply sloping terrain.

The pack horses fording the river.  The water came up to the top of our legs as we crossed, and was flowing strongly. We crossed this river at about five different points during the trek to locate a site for the base camp, as it meandered across our line of travel !

On the walk in we found out first species – a snake lying at the edge of the river! Eventually, an area of rainforest at a place called Tagapunan was selected as being the most suitable area for the researchers to base their camp, and we set about the work of unloading the equipment.   

With the group of researchers, guides, porters and provincial government staff, I arrive at the site of the Berseba jungle camp.  

We had hired five local people – four men as guides and for security, and one young girl as cook, general assistant and companion for Weng, the young female research assistant from Mindanao State University. A respectable Filipina girl will not enter a house with a man unless there is a ‘chaperone’ present, so we could hardly ask Weng to camp in the forest with a group of men without a female companion present !

The local guides set about clearing a small patch of flat ground for the camp, and constructing tables and benches from forest materials – branches lashed together with vines.

Lunch is prepared by Airene over a brushwood fire.

 

The camp takes shape.  After lunch we sit on benches made from thin logs.

Later that day the researchers started setting up mist nets to capture the forest birds by day and bats by night, drop traps to catch lizards, and live cage traps for capturing small mammals.  Very soon, they started getting results. 

 

From left to right – MSU researchers Alrey and Weng, Salome (from the provincial environment and natural resources office) and me, holding a white throated kingfisher – one of the first birds caught.

All captured animals are weighed, measured, identified. Red nail-polish is used to mark the animals before release, so that the resarchers can tell if an animal has been caught before, or is a new individual.

Me holding a Philippine frogmouth – named after its large wide beak.

Finally, it as time for us to leave the researchers and guides and head back to the car for the journey home.  Since the journey back was mostly up a very steep mountain, and the horses now had no load to carry, I decided to ride one of the horses back up the mountain to where we had left the car. 

 

A horse stands cooling its legs in the water in the shade of the riverbank trees while it waits to carry me back the long trek to the car.

All in all, very enjoyable day !

Before We Start….

 

A Greater Flameback Woodpecker. The mountains of the Andanan Watershed are full of rare and beautiful wildlife which has never been researched or documented.

One source of funding VSO is able to access for its projects here in the Philippines comes from the EU under a development programme on sharing and promoting of regional knowledge.  I recently put in a project proposal to get help from Mindanao State University (MSU) to carry out species identification in the Andanan watershed area.  Peviously no real information has been available on what species of birds, bats, snakes et cetera are present in the area, and what is in danger of being lost if the defeorestation of the area continues. We were lucky and funding for the proposal was approved - 255,800 Pisos or around 2,800 pounds.

However, that was only the start of things.  There were still lots of hurdles to jump and hoops to leap through before we could start the work.  One of the most important of these was obtaining the consent of the indigenous peoples who live in the area.  This involved meetings with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, then with the Datus (Tribal Chieftans), and finally we had to hold community meetings. 

Datus (tribal chiefans) and Barangay (village) officials sit around the table at the pre-project meeting.  The community members listen from behind. Manobo Datus traditionally wear red jackets or have red banding on their clothes. It is also traditional for food to provided at meetings, so we had to feed about 200 people !

MSU had tried to go through this process last november, but unfortunately they were unaware of the best way to explain the project to the indigenous people of the area.  As a result, the way the project was explained to the indigenous people (IPs) didn’t make it clear why they should give their permission, and what the benefits to them would be from the project.  Since the IPs are very protective of their rights and access to their lands, they therefore refused permission in November. 

In January I approached the Provincial Officer for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, who is based at the Provincial Capitol where I work.  He gave us good advice on the correct process to follow, and put us in touch with the Regional NCIP Office in Butuan.  Together they guided us through the procedures for meeting the legal requirement for obtaining the Free Prior Informed Consent of the IPs before carrying out research in thie tribal lands.  The Provincial Officer even facilitated a new set of meetings with the datus, Barangay (village) officials, and the communities to explain why the project was needed. 

During these meetings, he explained the project to the tribal groups in their own language (Manobo) as well as Visayan, and clearly explained how the project on biodiversity would help the IPs to prepare their Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development Plan – an important requirement of the process of getting their ancestral lands recognised in a Certificate of Ancestal Domain Title. 

The end result as that the indigenous people agreed to the project going ahead, and agreed to offer their protction to the researchers from Mindanao State University while they were carrying out the work.  This was formalised by all the Datus and Barangay officials signing a document agreeing to the researchers entering their area to conduct the research.  However, educational facilities in the remote mountain areas are limited both by physical distance from schools and lack of money for families to pay for their children to be educated, and were even more limited when the current Datus were of school age.  As a result, many of the Datus’ ’signatures’ were in the form of a thumbprint.   

 

‘Signing’ the agreement.  An elderly Datu appends his thumbprint. 

The agreement of the datus, officials and communities to guarantee the safety of the researchers was of particular importance, as the researchers would have to camp in the forest overnight in order to catch and identify nocturnal species such as bats, some bird species, frogs, etc.   As there are members of the New Peoples Army (communist insurgents) in the mountains of Mindanao, it was necessary that the researchers be under the protection of the community, especially while staying overnight in the mountain forests.

So, with their safety assured and the ‘red tape’ complied with, we were able at last to begin the research to identify the biodiversity of the mountain forests of the Andanan Watershed. 

A warning sign on the access road into the watershed, at a site subject to major landslides during every rainy season.

Only the natural hazards such as snakes and landslides remained to be negotiated !

A large rat snake.  One of the many species of snake present in the forests.

Pit Senjor ! Viva Santo Nino !

The third week of January is the Sinulog Festival in Cebu.  

This year our Provincical Governor in Agusan del Sur, Governor ”Eddiebong” Plaza, took a group of about 65 staff and politicians to Cebu for the festival.  

It is a major event in the southern Philippines, and involves lots of street dancing, elaborate costumes, and basically having fun ! 

Amongst those invited to attend were the six VSO volunteers working in the province. 

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The festival revolves around a statue of the “Santo Nino” which was brought to the Philippines by the Spanish Queen early in the time of the Spanish colonisation. 

The statue is still held in a church in Cebu, and is much revered.  One a year it forms the centrepiece of a big parade at the Sinulog Festival.

There are a huge number of different performers, and the Festival lasts for about a week. 

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The climax of the celebrations happens on the Sunday, when there are river parades, a large open-air Mass, and the street processions of dancers.

In the Philippines you’re never too young to enjoy a fiesta ! While the woman on the left holds up the Santo Nino (Holy Child) statue, the man on the right carries a real baby ! 

Most of the dance groups carry a copy of the Santo Nino statue - which is wearing a crown and a wide red cape – and everywhere there are signs saying “Viva Santo Nino!”, and “Pit Senjor!”  The Santo Nino is commonly referred to as “Senjor”, and apparently “Pit Senjor” means something like “invoke the Senjor Santo Nino”.

 

Its a great festival.  Certainly worth seeing if you are in the Philippines in the month of January.

Datus and Doctors : Agusan Marsh Gets a Floating Clinic

A new floating clinic funded by the Philippine Australian Community Assistance Programme (PACAP) navigates its way into one of the channels of the Marsh while local residents hitch a ride on the outriggers and tow their dugout canoes behind.

I am trying to catch up with some of the updates from Bill’s visit which I have so far not got round to putting on the blog site. 

Amongst the trips we undertook was to join the celebrations of the 20th aniversary of PACAP – the Philippine-Australian Community Assistance Programme.  PACAP does a lot of work with the indigenous peoples, and in the Agusan Marsh, including recently launching a Floating Clinic to serve the people who live in remote areas of the Marsh.

 

A local Marsh woman from the Manobo Tribe gets treatment from the Save Mindano Volunteers, who operate the Floating Clinic.  A young manobo dancer in traditional costume looks on. 

The Floating Clinic is operated by the Save Mindano Volunteers – a locally based volunteering agency here in the southern Philippines, with Philippino volunteers from here in Mindano.  Without the floating clinic many of the indigenous people living in the marsh would find it very hard to access medical help without very long travelling times.

Because it was the 20th Anniversary of PACAP providing aid to the Philippines there were great celebrations of the achievements of their ‘first’ 20 years !  Inevitably when you are in Manobo tribal areas, large celebrations begin with a ritual during which offerings are made to the spirits, including the ritual slaughter of a pig (a ‘baboy’) with a traditional spear by the Datu (the Tribal Chief).

 The baboy (pig) ritual – the Datu (Tribal Chief) arries out a ritual of offerings to the spirits during which a pig is slaughtered using a traditional spear.

This was followed by lots of events to celebrate the PACAP Anniversary, including lots of traditional dancing, by adults and children alike, singing, and games involving the members of the local Community.

 

Manobo dancers dance barefoot on the rough gravel ground used for community events. It is common for the indigenous peoples not to use any shoes.

A few days after the celebrations in the heart of the Marshland we visited another community at Sitio Palibu, on the edge of the Marsh, which has also been a focus of assistance from PACAP. 

PACAP have been helping the local indigenous peoples (IPs) to secure a Certificate of Ancestral Domain for the lands they occupy, to safeguard their future rights to the area.  Within a recognised Ancestral Domain the rights of the indigenous peoples to continue their traditional ways of life are protected, including their rights to continue their traditional hunting practices.  Many IPs still hunt wild birds and monkeys for their food.

Bill and I with Datu Palibu, the Tribal Chief (Datu) of Sitio Palibu. 

A Day in the Life Of…

A local man brings me is ‘catch’ in a coconut shell to examine by the Andanan River. The fish is a tiny tilapia – an introduced species which is not native to the Philippines but which is now one of the dominant species in the river. 

Having looked back at my blog it was apparent that there was more about my ‘out of work’ activities than about my “day job”.  So here is a bit more about what I do in working hours.  Recently we have had two main activities ongoing -

1. identifying the key issues which a Managment Plan for the Andanan Watershed will need to address, in terms of sustainable use of natural resources, and achieving conservation whilst meeting the livelihood needs of communities
2. documenting what is happening in the watershed, including
   • land use activities
   • natural resources present in the area,
   • pressures on water resources and natural resources, and
   • biodiversity in the area. 

As soon as you start doing anything like fish sampling (we hired a local fisherman called Dante to catch fish for us) a crowd of locals gathers round to try and figure out what this crazy foreigner is doing ! 

 

A crowd of locals gather round to watch us work – we are catching dragonfies, placing them in a glass tank to take photographic records, then releasing them. Soon some of the locals started catching more of them and offering them to us ! 

We wanted to know what fish were present, which had died out and what the health of the fish stocks in the river is.  Toxic chemicals are often used (illegally) by locals to catch fish by poisoning them (would you eat a fish which had been poisoned by insecticide ?).  Between that and the introduction of non-native species which dispace the native fish we think around nine species of fish which were present in the river in living memory may now be locally extinct. The size of the remaining fish being caught is very small. 

While Dante was fishing, other fishermen came to show us their catches.  We also spent our time catching samples of different dragonfly and damselfly species to record the species diversity in the area.  Dragonflies are thought to be indicators of good water quality. We have recorded about 20 different types already, and have seen others we still have to catch ! 

   

A few of the species we have caught and photographed.

I order to identify the issues in the area we have also been consulting with local residents as well as barangay (village) officials and tribal representatives.  Today we had a big workshop which brought together a lot of these people in order to find out their views on the issues in their area, and what they think should be done to improve the situation.

 

The Barangay representative from Mount Ararat explains the local peoples’ views on the issues in the mountian area. Behind him are cards on which they have posted up the key issues that need to be addressed.    

It was a very useful  discussion, and I certainly learnt a lot from them, which will all help in the development of the Management Plan for the Andanan Natural Park.  It as been another busy day, so it is now time for bed (as Zebedee said). 

Tomorrow we are off to Pinagalaan again for the mass feeding programme for the school children there.  I will post another blog page soon with an update about the school.

Building Homes, Building Communities, Building a Nation

 

An unlikely pair of  Gawad Kalinga“heroes”

Our latest exploits here during Bill’s visit have included participating in a Gawad Kalinga, which is a charitable event organised by a group called Couples for Christ, and basically involves a whole load of volunteers getting together to give their labour free to build free houses for poor people who could not otherwise afford them.  They get the materials by obtaining them from donations from a famous Filipino singer, and from politicians such as Mayors and the like.  The labour is donated free by people like us. No-one is required to do vast amounts of work -the idea is that by sheer volume of numbers it can be done by everyone just doing their little bit.  

 

 Surrounded by Manobo children from the village.

Anyway, we joined in, and took part in a house build at a place called Sitio Hitaob in Barangay Awasian, which is a mountain Manobo community that is about a 4 hour trip from were I live. However, to get to the actual build site involves a two hour walk up into the mountains, including fording two rivers. Unfortunately it chose to pour during the walk in, with a vengeance common in the rainforest, complete with thunder and lightening.  Needless to say we got soaked, and the rivers we had to wade across were in spate and up to the top of our legs!  Kind Manobo men made sure we didn’t get swept away though. 

Some more of the Manobo kids join Bill in resting by the river

Although we were only able to be there for one day we helped to get “our” house to the stage were founds were dug, the floorboards were down, and the framing for the wall partitions was up.  New volunteers were continuing to arrive as we had to leave, so a kind of ‘rota’ was going which would easily complete the houses in the allotted time (3 days). Overall, six houses were being built during the three day period.  27 had been previously built in a similar way in the same village. 

  

Some very mucky VSO volunteers.  Spot the ones who were digging out the founds for the loo!

A local woman accommodated 4 of us VSO volunteers in her house, and even gave up her bedrooms for us all.  The kitchen was a lean to arrangement at the back of the house in which a open fire is lit to cook on.  However – joy of joys  – it had a CR (that’s a comfort room  – i.e. a WC). 

 

We cheat and hitch a lift out in the back of a truck or save our tired legs !

At night music played, huge bright fireflies sparkled across the dark outlines of the trees of the rainforest, and we all shared a communal meal in the schoolroom.  At the end of the evening children could be seen wending their way homewards up the mountainside carrying flaming torches. All in all it was a great experience !

Traveller’s Tales

Staff of the Natural Resource Managment and Sustainable Development Unit

Well, here I am, back in harness again.  Sorry to anyone who has been visiting this site in recent weeks and has found nothing new added -  I have been back in the UK for most of July and August, but am now back hard at work in the Philippines. In between times I had been moved into a new section within the Provincial Government, and my new office mates had put up a banner and bought me flowers to welcome me back.  Really nice and kind of them, and makes it feel that much nicer to be back. 

Whilst in the UK I had a hectic time as Bill and I had to move out of the house we had built a couple of years ago since it has now been sold. However we did manage to move everything without too much hassle though - even our sheep, which are now safely stored in the freezer. 

It was great to see Bill and all my family again, and to catch up on all that had been happening.  Congratulations to my niece, Hollybeth, who with her two friends won a citizenship award at their school for their excellent efforts in raising money for the school at Pinagala-an, so well done to the three of them.   

 

Hollybeth, Me and Nicole, with one of the posters they made for school 

While I was home Bill and I managed to acquire a static caravan (for free) which we moved onto part of the land we own near where our house was, overlooking the waters of Loch Long on the west coast of Scotland.  For good measure we also managed to order and build a 27 foot long stable block / boatshed which we had erected alongside the caravan.  Bill and I even had to build the brick base for it ourselves in our spare time ! 

 

Bill and Corrie near Ardfern,Scotland

Next, I had to pop into hospital for a little bit of major surgery before Bill and I had to throw ourselves into house-hunting for a little property to put our money into and which we can rent out whilst I am away to try and compensate a little for my present lack of income !

In spite of all our activities, Bill and I did manage to fit in a couple of brief trips away for a few days – once to Iona and once to Portsonachan / Kilmelford and Ardfern in mid-Argyll.  Thouroughly enjoyable and very restful.

I managed to be in the UK during a lengthy heatwave in July, and left just as the autumn winds were starting to blow in and the temperature fall at the start of September…..

Will now have to cope with a constant 31 degrees Celsius again.  It’ a tough job, but someone has to do it… 

Summer holidays in Scotland (Bill with his umbrella and a map - we weren’t really soaking wet and lost! Promise !) 

The Naliyagan Festival

 

Street dancing performance

When I was on a training course before coming here I met a lovely retired lady who had recently volunteered in the Philippines.  Anxious to find out what I was letting myself in for, I quizzed her about what it was like in the Philippines.

Her main observation on the Philippines was that the Filipinos love to celebrate, and will use any excuse for a fiesta. To be exact, she said that if they saw a slug crawling along the pavement (or slithering or whatever slugs do) they would exclaim "oh ! look ! theres a slug crawling along the pavement - we must have a fiesta !"  

Being a very religious Catholic country, they have a wealth of opportunities provided by the abundance of saints days, but manage to find a lot of other opportunities too.

 

Manobo dancers in traditional costume relax after their performance  

The biggest annual festival around where I am based is the Naliyagan Festival which takes place from 12th till the 17th June.  There are lots of fantastic performances and events, from tribal theatre and traditional dancing to mudfish relays.  In case you haven't seen a mudfish relay it is like an egg and spoon race but with a live mudfish on a plate.  They have to catch the fish by hand from a large pool before they can start !  

All the indigenous people of the area dress in their traditional costumes and perform traditional dances so it will be a good chance to sample some of the traditional culture of the area.  

The process has to include the Manobo Tribal ritual involving offerings to the gods, which for a big event like this involves sacrificing a pig by killing it with a large with a spear.  I'll spare you the 'spouting blood' photos with the blood erupting up into the air! A white chicken was also involved but somehow managed to survive.  I am sure it was pleased about that, as despite having its legs bound it fled into the crowd several times during the ceremony and had to be recaptured and passed back.

The festival culminates on saturday which is the anniversary of the creation of the Province of Agusan del Sur.  Saturday's programme also includes the Indigenous Peoples' Summit. 

Other events included concerts and fireworks in the evenings, moto-cross racing, off road driving races, Agri-lympics (fastest manual rice miller, fastest firemaker, and lots of silly games mostly involving coconuts, to name but a few). 

There are lots of booths and displays publicising the work the Provincial Government is doing, and each Municipality in the Province has a stand showcasing their area, its produce and its people. 

About  three days before the festival began it was decided by the Honourable Governor that there should be a display about the work Voluntary Service Overseas is doing in the province, so us volunteers had to frantically put together a display involving posters, photos and leaflets for a VSO booth. 

 

It is work really – honest ! Hungarian volunteer Ferenc Kis and I staffing the VSO booth at the festival. 

Amongst other things in the display we each had to to a large poster with photos of us doing our work out in the communities and a bit of background about who we were and where we had come from ! 

We had to help to man the stand as well, but it was all good fun with plenty of opportunites to wander round and enjoy the festival. 

I even found time to try my hand at learning to play traditional instruments at the Provincial tribal Booth which had displays about the cultures and costumes of the various tribal groups of Agusan del Sur !

On friday the Governor invited the VSO volunteers to join him for the evening programme – considered a great honour.  It was a rather bizarre experience, as we spent the evening surrounded by about ten armed bodyguards. Heavy duty weapons were everywhere. Not something I am unsed to coming from the gun-free UK!

I have never had my wine served by a man with a gun before !  I couldn't quite decide if it made me feel safe or unsafe. 

Anyway, the Governor spent the evening chatting to the Governor and listening to the band competition, although Ferenc was a bit distracted by the pretty young ladies which the Governor's 'entertainment manager' invited along for the amusement of the Governor's male guests (in case you were wondering, similar services are not provided for his female guests !)

All in all, it was a great festival, and not much work (other than the festival) has been done by anyone in the Provincial Government offices this week !

No Bones About It (aka The “Dog Blog”)

Don't work with children and animals they say. Certainly don't even think of adopting strays ! However, what do you do when a starving critter turns up on your doorstep on the point of death ? Ignore it ??  Easier said than done.  When I arrived I swore I would not take in any stray animals. 

Then this thing turned up on my doorstep. It had no hair, was covered on open sores and just a bag of bones. His hairless tail looked like the tail of a rat. His ribs stuck out and his abdomen was tucked up towards his spine.

Reminding myself of the induction course we had in Manila where we were told it is cheaper to ship home a man / woman than a dog or cat, I ignored him for a day. He stayed.

I ignored him a bit longer. He still stayed. 

Faced with the prospect of him dying on my doorstep I'm afraid I gave in. I fed him. 

I told him not to get ideas – just because I fed him didn't mean he was my dog. He ignored me and started spending his days lying in the shade waiting for me to return home and feed him.  I still keep telling him "You are not my dog.  You need to keep foraging for food." 

I nicknamed him "Bones" since that's all he was. At first he was very frightened and timid, but time and food cured that, and he has gone from strength to strength. 

As his strength has returned he has become very puppy-ish.  He started stealing the neighbours shoes and piling them up outside my door. 

Then he appeared with a childs vest. 

Another  time it was a pair of knickers !

I now have to surreptitiously creep round the neighbourhood under cover of darkness trying to return pilfered items without being seen. 

By the time six months had passed one of my fellow volunteers who lives next door to me (Don from England) decided he was a "Born Again Canine" and should be re-named "Kusog", which means "Strong".

And so Kusog was born (or re-born !).  He seems to be enjoying his second puppyhood. 

I have no idea what to do with him when I leave.  I think I need to find someone to take him over when I go.  Shipping him home is not really an option.  Apart from the cost, and problems of quarantine, he is what's known here as a "street dog" who has never known a lead or a collar and is completely untrained, although he is now affectionate and likes people (now he has learnt he can trust some of them !).  In the meantime at least he is healthy and happy for two years, when he would otherwise have been dead by now. 

Last week I went to the island of Bohol for nine days for a conference.  

As I left I gave the neighbours (whose shoes he steals) a bag of dog food and, while pointing out that he was not my dog (That shoe-stealer ? Mine ? Never ! Nothing to do with me! He's just a Street Dog) I asked them to give him one measure of dogfood a day for the week.

Not that he's my dog, you understand. 

That Sinking Feeling

Oh dear !  It seems my postings about my folks' visit omitted any pictures of my dad.  As a result, my niece, Holly Beth wondered why her grandad wasn't in the photos. Had we lost him ? Was he still going around and around on the baggage carousel at Manila Airport waiting for someone to claim him ?

Well the real reason is that he was acting as photographer, so was behind the camera. But to assure everyone he is well and having a good time here are some photos of him trying his hand at paddling a local canoe, complete with rattan poles as outriggers to give it more stability.

Unfortunately they didn't give it quite enough stability and he managed to sink it ! 

Fortunately the water was only about 18 inches deep at that point, so instead of the canoe plunging to a watery grave, no harm was done. 

Instead, it was quickly bailed out and was afloat again in no time.   

In fact the water in the bay at Barobo is so shallow that the locals build little huts way out far into the bay where they grow seaweed and farm fish. 

 

The purpose of the huts is to let them guard their seaweed and make sure nobody steals it. The purple seaweed is then dried along the roadsides in the village and then sold as food at local markets. 

Suitably refreshed from planned and unplanned immersion in the sea, we set out to do our second mass distribution of the gifts sent from Mearns Parish Kirk.  I will post details of this in the next day or two, once we sort the photos (there are hundreds of them !)