Stories of HOPE

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Ailyn is one of the three IP leD Fellows sent by Tugdaan to the IP LeD training program. She has two children with Andres, his 44 year-old husband- Irish (5) and Irene, 4. They are both college graduates. Irish is now studying in a Day Care. The couple wants to provide a good education for their children; however, Ailyn is not sure if they could still afford to send them to school in the future. Compared to before, they are now having a hard time in saving because of their kids' growing needs.

Her involvement in Tugdaan's enterprise greatly helped her family. She is currently the production manager of Tugdaan's food processing center (producing honey, calamansi, ginger and hibiscus concentrate). Aside from this, the family owns a small portion of sakahan (farm) and a little tubigan (for the rice paddies). They also have a motorcycle and some pigs, chickens and a carabao.

Being one of the first students of IP-LeD, Ailyn saw the benefits of the program. She says that it greatly helped her in gaining more confidence in dealing with other people.

58 year old Cayetana Lintawagin is also one of the many Mangyan Alangans directly benefiting from Tugdaan's kapihan. Her husband is the sole supporter of the family. One of their four children already finished college. One is in high school, and the other two are still in elementary. Their income mainly comes from growing coffee, calamansi, coconut and other fruit trees.

Cayetana's family often has no budget for school fees especially during off-harvest season. Most of their farm products during harvest season had very low prices.

When Tugdaan started training them on better quality production and marketing, her income dramatically increased. She has become concerned both in the quality of their coffee trees and how they present it to consumers.

Cayetana says that even before, they already knew that they were being cheated in the price, but because of fear they chose not to speak anything about it. Now, with the help of her fellow Mangyans who underwent IP-LeD training, she and her fellow farmers became more empowered and confident in interacting with customers.

Now her goal is to produce more high quality coffee and calamansi so she can continuously support the education of her children.

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The 35 year old Cirilina "Bukal" Agbayan Lintawagin is one of the first students under the IP-LeD program. She currently lives with her mother, Norma.

At present, she is the VCO Production Manager of Tugdaan. Her main responsibilities revolve around coconut processing. Aside from this, she is also farming with the other Mangyans. She has her own house and some farm animals like cow, carabao and goats.

Cirilina says that she now earns enough to sustain her and her mother"s daily needs. When asked if she is able to save for emergencies, she says that it is not part of their culture and therefore is not being practiced by Mangyans.

Cirilina says that they are now more focused in the business. Through IP-LeD, they became more systematic especially in the management of the business. The program also had an effect in her confidence, self-esteem, love for work and relationship with her fellow Mangyans.

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Ricardo Lintawagin, a 60-year old Mangyan Alangan is one of the coffee growers in Paitan, Oriental Mindoro. He and his second wife Linda (50) consider farming as their main source of livelihood.

The existence of Tugdaan coffee enterprise helped them a lot. Before, their products were often haggled in the local market. They had no choice but to sell them even for a very cheap price since it was their only means to survive. Through Tugdaan�s help, they found it easier to transact business with other people. Just like the many beneficiaries of Tugdaan, they are also able to focus more on the improvement of the quality of their products.

Aside from the gradual improvements in their income, IP-LeD has made an impact on their perceptions and interpersonal relationships. Before, there was no sense of cooperation in the kapihan. Now, there is bayanihan (Filipino term associated with communal unity and cooperation). They are now also able to share their knowledge of new production strategies with their fellow Mangyans.

Ricardo says that he is happier now because despite the fact that he was not able to go to school, he proved to himself that he has the capacity to learn new things for the development of his family.

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Rosita Lipanyuan, 51 years old, belongs to the Mangyan Alangan tribe living in Paitan, Oriental Mindoro. She and her husband Martin (51), has 4 children: Richard (33), Maria (31), Marivic (24), and Rogelio (13). Two of them (Richard and Maria) already got married. Rogelio (their youngest) is currently studying. Marivic on the other hand stopped schooling due to frequent sickness.

The couple both works at the kapihan together with their two children. They also sell fruits, vegetables, cassava, banana, and coconut. They had to sell every single day and are often forced to skip meals especially if they do not meet the sales needed to sustain their daily needs.

Despite being able to earn from the business, they had no savings because they always had to use it to pay for their daily needs and other expenses.

The family now knows the importance of not cutting trees. Their family still practices kaingin, but they plant coffee and other crops afterwards. The 51 year old Lipanyuan believes that through their continuous efforts (of not causing damage to disaster-prone areas) they will become less vulnerable to landslides.

Rosita says that they have a better life now and that their efforts are not wasted. However, she still hopes for increased buyers and some financial assistance to afford a good education for her children.

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Florentina Matalis is one of the coffee growers trained by Tugdaan. She has 5 children: Maria Cristina (27), Merlita (23), Melissa (17), Menard (13), and Mayla (8). Merlita already has her own family while Maria Cristina is currently teaching in Tugdaan. The other 3 children are still studying- 1 in high school and the other 2 in elementary.

Florentina belongs to the first batch of direct beneficiaries of Tugdaan's kapihan. Like many of the Mangyan Alangans living in Paitan, the kapihan is the main source of livelihood for Florentina�s family.

Before, they used to offer their products for a cheaper price so they are often confronted with problems with regards to their day to day expenses, much more their children's school needs.

The Tugdaan IP-LeD fellows served as instruments in honing their skills in quality coffee production and effective marketing strategy. After series of on-field mentoring, she is now able to increase her income because the coffee beans that she produces have higher market value.

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Cerelo (45) is one of the pioneering coffee growers who were trained by Rizalito (an IP LeD fellow) on quality coffee beans production. He and his wife Jacinta (68) started working in the farm at a very young age. Aside from planting coffee, he also grows banana, cassava and calamansi as their family�s source of living.

Brendo, their only child was able to reach college through the scholarship program of missionaries in their place. When the scholarship stopped when he was in 2nd year college, he was not able to continue because Cerelo and Jacinta cannot pay for the school fees.

Alangan ways have remained traditional despite today�s advancements in technology. As a people whose lives mostly depend on nature, they prefer to avoid putting synthetic fertilizers in their crops.

Tugdaan, being the main marketing center of his farm produce has helped his family a lot. They are now able to save more time and effort because they do not have to look for buyers outside. They also have given more attention particularly in the improvement of the quality of their products, knowing that they will not be deceived in terms of the price in Tugdaan. This motivated them to become more diligent in their work and to take good care of their crops.

Right now, Cerelo wants attend more training sessions related to quality coffee production. This for him can help him and the future generation a lot.

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Escholastica Taywan, 70 years of age, is also one of the many Mangyan Alangans who benefited from IP-LeD. A native of Paitan, Oriental Mindoro, she and her husband Benigno (73) has 5 children who have their own families now. They are currently living with their grandchild, Marrel Taywan (10).

Escholastica believes in the power of education. For her, this is one of the things that every Mangyan should have. Unfortunately, their family could not have full access to it due to their low income. With their kind of work, it was hard to afford a full college education especially because there are no colleges in Paitan.

Farming is the main source of livelihood of the family. Aside from this they, make hupa (baskets) which costs Php. 35 per piece. Usually, only 4 hupas can be finished in a day but the numbers would vary depending on the availability of their raw materials.

Being one of the IP-LeD beneficiaries, Escholastica noticed the gradual changes in their income and production. They have more harvest now that they take good care of their crops. With the help of seminars, their knowledge on production techniques also widened. Cropping became easier for them because of proper alignment of plants, compared to before where they did not have any system and just planted anywhere.

More members are becoming active because of the introduction of new coffee varieties. Escholastica adds that there is now cooperation between members and more are enticed to join knowing that the offers are high (translates to higher savings) and that they would not have to leave their homes anymore.

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Milagros Tupaz, 70 years old and her husband, Ernesto (73), a Mangyan Alangan, had been blessed with 12 wonderful children; Emily (37), Susana (36), Marites (35), Willy (34), Marivic (33), Ailyn (32), Eddie (31), Marlo (30), Ni�o (29), Macbelle (28), Michelle (27), and Richelle (24). Of the 12, only 5 were able to finish college.

The family owns a small store which had been their main source of livelihood ever since. His daughter Michelle is one of the most loyal Advocaf� crews who had been serving for five years now. Milagros� other children had early marriages and now have their own families.

Milagros is not a native of Paitan. Being a wife of a Mangyan, at first she found it hard to adjust. After quite some time, she had learned to love the people and absorb their practices. She admires the Mangyans warmth in dealing with other people, which according to her could go a really long way when combined with business.

Being dependent to coffee, Milagros� family does not have a steady profit. After joining Tugdaan�s training, their income got a little higher than before.

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Vicencia, 54, a Mangyan Alangan is one of the second batch of farmers trained by Rizalito. She has 9 children with her husband Enrique (53): Maria Christina (29), Maria Lorena (27), Maria Venricka (26), Margarita (24), Heribert (22), Marjorina (20), Enrique Jr. (17), Diego (15), and Mary Rose (13).

Vicencia puts prime priority to the education of her children. Despite various challenges that she and her husband had to hurdle, they were able to send all their children to school. Four of them finished college- 1 teacher, 1 social worker, 1 nurse and 1 anthropology graduate. Three are currently studying in college, while the other two are still in high school. Most of those who graduated in college depended on various scholarship programs.

Vicencia molded her children to become faithful and independent. She also taught them the value of hardwork especially that their source of income depended on farming. After learning more about farming technologies through the IP LeD program, Vicencia has seen great possibilities on how to improve their farming practice. Before, they were used to slash and burn farming.

Now, they learned the value and relevance of intercropping (growing crops simultaneously and arranging them in alternate rows for sunlight to reach evenly).

The sharing of information and openness to new ideas are just some of the parts of Mangyan culture that Vicencia thinks they found useful in the training process. She noticed that Mangyans are becoming more motivated now in planting and joining the business because of the effects they have seen in the first batch of beneficiaries.

27 year old Gemma Agor lives in Amas, Brookes Point, Palawan. She and her husband Jonery (37) were blessed with 3 children- Jonjei, Logi Mark and Je-ann. Two of them are currently in elementary.

Gemma works as a Barangay Health Worker (BHW) while serving at the same time serves as the secretary of the SPABP’s coco spread enterprise.

The family owns a small farm land where they plant palay(rice) and also sell kopra (dried coconut meat)for a living.

Gemma feels happy for the economic opportunity that the coco spread enterprise is providing them since farming alone cannot sustain the daily needs of her family. She is hopeful that more opportunities for improvement of their enterprise would be made available to them.

Edna (35) is one of the natives who currently live in Amas, Brookes Point, Palawan. She has become the sole supporter of her child Angelina (2) ever since she and her husband separated. Due to financial incapability she stopped studying after the first semester in college.

Edna is a member of the Samahan ng mga Palawano sa Amas Brookespoint Palawan (SPABP).She sells “kakanin”and cellphone load for a living. At times, Edna also takes part in the production of Cocospread(SPABP’s product) together with the other SPABP members especially if there is a need for extra workers. Php7 goes to every worker per bottle. Part of the enterprise’s profit also goes to the organization.

Edna says that what she learned from the enterprise have been really a great help for their development. She feels that this Cocospread business would become even more beneficial to all families if there is a continuous production. They are now innovating variations of their coco spread products, as advised by the IP LeD mentors.

Ding who was born in 1978 in Amas, Brookes Point, Palawan, is the youngest son of Golmia (78) and Marting Landuan (94). Rolito chose to remain single after realizing that he might not be able to support the education and other needs of his future children.

He is currently the general manager of the SPABP’s coco spread enterprise. The community takes pride in the product even if they were not able to fully process it traditionally, since they were able to follow the steps taught by the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry).

Through the IP-LeD program, Rolito became more enthusiastic at work. He was also able to share his knowledge from the sessions to the other members. He became more inspired to work not only for himself but also for his fellow Palawanos.

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Sorbina is a native Palawano in Amas, Brookes Point, Palawan. Born in March 1961, she and her husband Ricardo (54) have two children, all of whom already have their own families

The Rubio’s small store and farm (where they do kaingin) serve as their main source of livelihood. Her eldest child was a college graduate. Meanwhile, the other was only a high school graduate. Sobrina’s highest educational attainment was Grade 4, while Ricardo stopped after 2 nd Year High School.

As one of the active members in the community and the organization, Sobrina was trained on the production of coco spread.

Sorbina seems to be contented with her life. They were really happy to know that many people are interested in helping them improve their enterprise. Though she still cannot see the huge impacts of the enterprise in terms of profit, but according to Sorbina, it has opened doors for a lot of improvement.

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Elmina is a native Palawano of Sitio Kamantian, Samariñana, Brookespoint, Palawan. She and her and husband Malik has 4 children- Michelle, Taping, Lynbeth and Nikki. All except Michelle (who already got married) are staying with them. The family works together in farming sayote, root crops and tingkep weaving, their sources of livelihood.

Elmina’s children at a young age were already taught farm work and household chores. Just like Bingbing Pangan’s children, Elmina’s kids did not want to go to school anymore because it was too far from home. They chose to help in the making of tingkep instead. Malik gets the raw materials while the kids take charge of the cleaning.

Their product is being bought by their fellow Palawanos in the community. The income from the tingkep is being used to purchase blankets, some clothes, rice and other food. Their contentment in life makes them think that external assistance is not anymore necessary. Their family has their own farm and some chickens. Despite their very simple life, they make it a point to save for emergencies.

There are no modes of transportation in the mountain so they do not go down often, but whenever necessary, they are forced to walk for three hours just to get to the market.

Fedelina is one of the Palawanos in Sitio Kamantian, Samariñana, Brookespoint, Palawan. She is the eldest child of Toming and Fortun Monto. To support their 8 children, Toming and Fortun do kaingin and farming. Whenever they are not engaging in kaingin, they weave tingkep baskets together with their children.

Fedelina never thought that their simple weaving can be a source of livelihood. Their tingkep before served only as storage bins of either clothes or root crops, but now they have learned to make business out of it. Smaller tingkep takes a longer time to finish (2 days) than the bigger ones (only 1 day). These smaller tingkeps also cost more than the big ones. Every month, they are able to produce a total of 5 tingkeps. They use the income generated to buy necessary things and food in the town.

The materials to be used in the production all come from non-timber forest products. Aside from carefully choosing which to use, she also ensure its cleanliness. The procedures they follow remain very traditional. To make the color darker, they smoke it using almasiga. Despite this small income, they are able to save some for emergencies.

For Fedelina, their tingkeps not only manifests their communal tradition but also their ability to balance the environment’s natural resources since only the mature binsag (one of the raw materials they use) are being used instead of the younger ones.

Bingbing, 34 is one of the organized Tingkep (traditional basket of Pal’awan tribe) weavers in Sitio Kamantian, Samariñana, Brookespoint, Palawan. She and her husband Migrino have 6 children- Geneboy, Junrey, Jeremy, Angell, Camilin at and Migrin Jr.

The family plants sayote (vegetable), gathers almasiga and makes tingkep for a living. Apart from this, they offer their labor in other farms. As native Palawanos, they do their share in the conservation of the environment’s natural resources. They get only enough raw materials for the products they make. The same is true with the family’s utilization of herbal medicines.

The tingkep workers including Bingbing’s family do not anymore care about the prices of the products they sell as long as they get paid for doing it. They only make tingkep whenever they are not engaging in kaingin or farming. They produce only a maximum of 5 tingkep baskets a month.

All of their children were not able to study because they live too far from school. Bingbing and Migrino can finance their studies, but the children themselves refused this opportunity as they got lazy and opted to work with them instead.

Despite showing contentment in their living conditions, Bingbing still sees her children’s need for education. She is planning to transfer to the lowland area near the school to encourage her kids to pursue their studies.

Nonoy, 29 is one of the original residents of Sitio Kamantian, Samariñana, Brookespoint,. He has 4 children with his wife Ubet- Nescielabin (1), Anes (9), Jetli (7), and Jenelyn (6), two of which are currently in the elementary level. Nonoy and Ubet knew how to speak Filipino since they were once the participants of some missionary’s literacy program.

Nonoy mainly does kaingin and almasiga farming for a living, while Ubet earns from making tingkep (native Palawano basket). Nonoy gets their raw materials from the forest. The family helps each other in the weaving process. They use the binsag for the smaller tingkeps while buldong and batbat are for the bigger ones. They only get the most mature raw materials to make sure that they would not cause too much harm to the environment. The tingkep production helps them in buying some clothes and other necessary materials for their everyday use.

They made their children understand the importance of their native culture including the making of tingkep. Moreover, they taught them cleanliness of the body and one’s environment. They too always encourage them to keep on studying even if the school is too far from the house. Though discriminated because of being slow learners, Nonoy always tells his children that this and their lack of things at school must never become a hindrance to complete their education.

Life was not easy for 41-year old Jay Cabug. He is a Boholano born in Carmen, Jimenez, Misamis Occidental. His wife, Arnelene (34) on the other hand is a Bisaya from Cagayan de Oro. Though not native Higaonons, their family had found home in the mountains of Lamingan, Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. They have a child named Mike, who is now 13 years old.

His wife tried her luck as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia. It has been six years now since she last saw her family. Jay says that her spouse sends money, but this money goes directly goes to Arnelene’s parents who are situated in Cagayan de Oro. Jay did not exactly mention the reason behind this. He just says that they would really feel lucky if ever they had a chance to receive a share of that income. The people’s communication in the mountain remains traditional (through sending letters), since there are no phone signals. This might be one of the reasons why his wife opts to send money to his in-laws.

Farming is the main source of livelihood for Jay. He also works as a laborer (being paid per day). In addition, his work in HAMOG (Higaonon Anamag Malandang Olagdok Gagaw, people’s organization) as a citrus juice and cassava chips processor also helps him whenever there are orders.

Despite his not being a Higaonon, his dedication for work had made the community decide and accept Jay as an official member of HAMOG. In the citrus processing, Php7 is given to workers for every bottle finished.

Since he rarely receives money from his wife, Jay does his best to be able to provide for his only son. Mike is already in Grade 7. Just like the others in the community, he walks roughly 5 kilometers everyday to go to school. Because of this, his shoes got easily worn out. Mike still does not complain about this since he knows how much a motorcycle ride (the only means of transportation in the area) a day costs (Php600 for 3 people). Some people extend help to kids like them by giving free rides, but most of the time they had to really endure the fatigue of the long walk.

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Lorena, 48 is a native Higaonon from Lamingan, Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. She has 4 children with his husband, Efren- two of these already have their own families, while the other two are still studying. Currently, their youngest is the only one staying with them.

Lorena owns a small farm. Out of farming, 2 of Lorena’s children were able to finish college; one in Agriculture, and the other, in Education. One of these two supported the education of one of their siblings and agreed to stay in their own family’s house outside the community, which greatly helped Lorena since they did not have a steady income and the child could not take long walks due to illness.

Lorena is also a processor of HAMOG’scitrus juice and cassava chips enterprise. Their production largely depends on orders as well as the availability of raw materials.

The business had helped Lorena a lot even if they only receive almost a minimum wage per day. The organization made her realize the importance of properly utilizing natural resources. She never thought that it would give them income so before, she just throws the excess away. Now, she and the others have learned to make the most out of it.

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Doris is a 31 year old Cebuano who currently lives in Lamingan, Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. This is where she married Michael (30), a native Higaonon. The two had three children, Mike AJ (12), Rigate (11) and Sean Patrick (4).

Their main source of livelihood is farming. As additional source of income, she takes part in their organization’s processing of citrus juice and cassava chips. Doris says that workers have to make 2 kilos of flour out of cassava (root crop) in order to get a Php120 wage per day.

The income they get from their livelihood activities are used to pay for the basic needs and education of their children.

The enterprise had good effects to the community. However, Doris claims that they do not earn enough. The availability of raw materials has always been one of their concerns. No matter how much they want to process, still they would not be able to do so.

In Bukidnon, motorcycle is the only means of transportation. The children walk to school every day but do not complain because of their hunger for knowledge. The distance from house to school is quite far and often gets muddy when it rains.

She is hopeful that as they continue to improve their business, more opportunities for income will be opened for them.

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52 year old Soltera is one of the native Higaonons of Sitio Tug-onganon, Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. She and husband Almario (57) were blessed with 5 children: Roman (21), Amy (20), Levy (18), Jemmar (14), and Glenn (12). They all worked in the farm together with their children who were also brought up to the Higaonon culture.

In the mountains, only few families have access to electricity. Soltera’s family is one of the many families who are not capable of utilizing this service because of their locations. The water near their house is not clean for drinking. They would have to walk hours in order to fetch potable water.

Weaving hinabol (woven abaca fiber) is an additional source of income of the family. Hinabol is one of the few remaining practices that originated from their ancestors. They used to trade and use this as gift during weddings. After knowing that it would help them gain more profit, they decided to sell them for Php100 per meter instead. They are able to weave two meters of hinabol a day.

The developments in technology and commercialization influenced Higaonons to make use of synthetic dyes instead of the traditional ones (natural dye). After becoming more organized and reaching an agreement through Kalandang (their organization), they once again adopted the natural dye method. However, this time they added the bleaching process to make the raw material (abaca) whiter before the actual hinabol weaving.

Now that their product is already marketed in Manila and other major cities through IP leD program, Soltera is more inspired to produce more high quality hinabol products.

Nelda is a Higaonon of Sitio Tug-onganon, Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. She is currently 47 years old while his husband Sabrado from Misamis is 49. Six of their 11 children are staying with them namely: Charlie (18), Jackson (17), Ivy (16), Chacha (14), Jungjung (12), and Roxanne (9). The others already got married. Charlie and Jackson had already finished high school but were not able to have further studies because of the location of the college and the family’s financial difficulty.

Nelda’s main source of income is farming. The small wage she receives from participating in Kalandang’s (weavers’ organization) weaving enterprise is also being used to pay for their expenses.

They know that this business is not able to fully support their family’s needs. Despite this, Nelda does her best to ensure the quality of her woven cloth for it to have a higher market price. Her speed at work makes her finish 5 meter cloths per day. Most of the Higaonons claim that she is the best hinabol maker in their area. For this reason, they buy her produce for Php175 per meter unlike the others who only get a standard pay of Php100 (per meter).

Nelda is happy to know that people buy their products. Because of this, they are able to show their culture and maintain the traditional weaving practices which surely is one of the many things that they could pass on to the next Higaonon generations.

Cleofe, a 63 year old Higaonon from Sitio Tug-onganon, Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon is also part of the Kalandang weavers organization. She and her husband Felix (67) are the only ones left in the house after all of their 5 children got married and had their own families. Cleofe is only an elementary graduate. Since they never went too far from their residence, she felt that there were no high schools in the area.

Cleofe earns Php125 per meter of the hinabol she weaves. She could produce up to 4 meters a day, but her income from this is not enough since the production is not continuous. In addition, Cleofe is forced to buy abaca in order to weave hinabol because they do not have their own plant. Despite the small income, her membership in the Kalandang has helped her save some small amount for emergencies. Because of the organization’s activities, the importance of the hinabol in the lives of the natives was also seen. Through the enterprise, not only their hinabol is slowly getting known but also the whole Higaonon community.

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Analisa lives in Asuncion, Davao del Norte with her third husband Josue Cabatlog. She had three children with her first husband and 4 with the second one. Because of her early marriage, Analisa was not able to finish her high school education.

Though Analisa and Josue never had a child, the latter willingly took the responsibility of raising the children of his spouse. Currently, only Analisa’s 4 children are living with them. For a living, Analisa does laundry work while Josue earns from driving a motorcycle.

The family’s other source of livelihood is the coconut vinegar enterprise. They were too discouraged at first to continue to work in BTC’s enterprise. They felt tired knowing that their day’s hard work would not give them food at the table. The turnover of the sukaan had significantly affected their living conditions. The Php4 workers get for every bottle greatly helped Analisa’s family, but since the business is not yet earning much, they find it hard to afford the growing expenses relating to her children’s education. Analisa’s family is also not able to save because of this.

Analisa chose not to leave sukaan because of her strong belief that it would someday work out the way they want it to. She also got motivated by the perseverance of their leader who made them feel part of the decision-making process through consultations and continuously informing them about what they needed to know.

For her, the progress of the business can be attributed to the combined efforts of the leaders and the workers. This would really contribute a lot especially if they have continuous production and if more people would trust and try their product.

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Leny is one of the beneficiaries in their community enterprise in Buclad, Asuncion, Davao del Norte. She is a Mandaya-Dibabawon and has 5 children with husband Gilbert (53): Loebert (28), Lenibeth (27), Liza Mae (23), Lovely (22) and Maria Lote (19). All except Maria Lote (still in her senior year in college) were able to finish their studies. The eldest, Loebert, despite having a wife and a child still lives with the family.

Farming is Leny’s main source of income. She also works in the community’s sukaan (vinegar business). Lenibeth and Liza Mae also help in paying for the household expenses from their respectuive income. In the sukaan, Leny receives up to Php 300 (the highest) per day of production. She says that this is a great help to them, unlike before when they would only earn the same amount at the end of the year because of not directly handling the whole enterprise.

At present, even if the production is not continuous and they often had to look for additional sources of income, Leny still feels happy about working in the sukaan. Aside from the wage she gets for every day of production, a 60% profit sharing occurs before the year ends.

Leny tries her best to finance her children’s studies, no matter what course they wanted to take. There were times when she had to borrow money just to pay for their tuition fees. She did not know what to do, until one of their children became a grantee of the Pamulaan Center for IP Education. Pamulaan helped Liza Mae complete her college education. Now, she volunteers in the IP Education Program of Assisi in Mindanao.

Leny has been a part of the Buclad Tribal Council ever since it started and has served as the organization’s secretary. The relationship between members had been good; however others were forced to leave the sukaan due to the lack of stable income. The remaining workers did not lose faith and continued working. Leny feels more inspired than ever, now that their product is slowly gaining popularity.

The only thing that keeps on bothering Leny is the road going to their area. The road is not passable during rains due to its muddy condition. Their safety and sales often suffer during these times when transportation of goods to the market becomes twice as challenging.

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Aurora is a Mandaya from Buclad, Asuncion, Davao del Norte. The 62-year old woman is living with her 2 grandchildren after her husband died 5 years ago and all their children got married and had families of their own.

Aurora regularly works in the farm while her grandchildren Lyged and Johnrey are off to school. She had long been a vinegar maker of the Buclad Tribal Council. She became inactive when she realized that the business was not paying them properly. She only decided to go back after seeing the effects of the turn-over of management system.

What also made her do so was the good management in Buclad. She recalled the Datu’s (tribal leader’s) sincere intention of extending help especially in those areas where he was needed the most. He did not even hesitate to offer his house when their area got flooded during the previous typhoons.

Aurora lives quite far from the Buclad Office where the roads and houses, making it hard for electricity to reach them.

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41 year-old Maria Emerita Ponce from Buclad, Asuncion, Davao del Norte is one of those who benefited from Buclad Tribal Council’s coconut vinegar enterprise. She has 4 children with his 48 year old husband Fernando- the eldest of whom died last year due to a motorcycle accident. Two of their other children, Christopher (19) and Jan Mart 12 are still studying while the 23 year old Fermin (second eldest) is already working.

Maria and Fermin’s main source of livelihood is farming. For further income, Maria joined the community’s Sukaan. She was one of the 4 workers who remained dedicated despite not being able to receive anything for their continuous labor.

After the turnover of the enterprise, she started to earn at least Php 40 to Php 300 a day depending on the number of bottles she is able to produce. Maria noticed that a lot of those who left wanted to come back because of this new system of payment.

Indeed, poverty had made its way to the lives of Maria and her family, but she and her husband did their best to provide a good future for their children. Luckily, one of them became a scholar (Nursing aid course) in a college.

After typhoon Pablo, the bridge where they used to pass through was destroyed. While waiting for it to be rebuilt, children had to cross a river in order to reach school. Aside from this, they too do not have access to electricity due to the unavailability of posts near their house.

Despite these challenges, she remains hopeful that with hardwork, luck and help from other people, her family can finally beat poverty and all forms of insecurity.

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Leonila (48) is one of the many residents in Buclad, Asuncion, Davao del Norte who are now enjoying the fruits of their hard work in the community’s enterprise. She came from the Visayas region, but decided to live in Davao together with his 48 year old Mandaya husband, Rogelio. They have 4 children: Freddie (27), Richelle (20), Raymund (16) and Honey (13). Two of them are still studying- one in elementary and the other, high school.

Rogelio works as a construction worker while Leonila is a vinegar processor in the Buclad Tribal Council (organization). Leonila became inactive in the sukaan ever since one of her children got involved in an accident. She used to be one of the most active members in the community even if they all do not earn much. The turnover of the business to the community greatly influenced members to once again participate in the production, including the youth who also wanted to become part of the process. They are currently thinking of ways on how to include these youths. To make this more possible, Leonila says that they need someone who can teach them the correct vinegar processing procedures.

Her co-workers understand the reason behind Leonila’s sudden withdrawal from the sukaan. She feels happy not only about this, but because they were able to have a good and very reliable leader in the community. He always communicates with the other members and lets them know about plans and changes in both the organization and the business.

Leonila continues to face various concerns with regards to her family’s needs. They do not have potable water. They use the muddy water in the well for their daily activities such as washing of clothes and dishes. Their area is prone to floods, so when typhoons occur the water becomes even muddier. This forces them to buy mineral waters from the market. During normal days however, they continue to use the well’s water for drinking and cooking purposes.

50 year-old Elma Condez was born in Balabag, Boracay. She is one of the many original Ati residents who were displaced from Boracay’s “front beach”. She and her husband Alfonso (52 years old) were blessed with three children, namely Jezrel (28), Jedjon (who just died recently due to tuberculosis and pneumonia) and Joshua (14). Her nephew, Tomas who is now in Grade 2 also lives with her family.

Elma was not able to complete her elementary education (only finished Grade 3). To be able to sustain their daily needs, three of them in the family are currently working. Elma and Jezrel are soap makers while Alfonso is a laborer in a resort in the island.

Elma says that before, his husband was the sole supporter of the family since the Atis were not yet been involved in a stable enterprise. After applying their knowledge about soap-making through the IP-LeD sessions, they were able to earn additional income from it.

Elma considers the business as a great help to the Atis. They were able to prove to the non-IPs that they are not “eyesores” (non-IPs used to call them such a name due to their skin color) but are people who work hard to be able to uplift their way of living. Her self-esteem in particular improved a lot.

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33 year-old Angelica Husto and her husband Rene Boy (29) were blessed with 4 children namely: Angeline (11), Danya (10), (John Chris (8), and Bukya (7). All of them are currently enrolled in an elementary school within the island.

Angelica serves as the BAMPC treasurer and a soap maker in the community. Rene Boy on the other hand, works in a resort in the island as a pool attendant.

At an early age, their children were taught simple household chores like cleaning the house, getting shells, and fetching water (“pag-iigib”).

According to Angelica, she does not have any source of income before since the Atis do not have a business yet. Before while her children and husband are away, she was used to just sitting and gossiping with neighbors all day.

Angelica is thankful because she feels more productive now as she is able to help her husband in working for their children’s future. She is now wiser in terms of managing her time both in work, in the house and her role as a mother and a wife.

She feels really happy now that Atis have products of high quality that they can be proud of. The new learnings from the IP-LeD sessions had been instrumental for the improvement not only of their products but of their values as well.

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Delsa, 54 is the tribal chieftain and also one of the original residents in the front beach. She has three children with her 2nd husband Orlando (57) Mara (19), Lara (15), and Sandara (10). Rowen, Angelica and Lourdes are her children from her 1st husband. Lourdes is already working as a volunteer teacher in Tubuanan Ati Learning Center. Through the help of a religious organization, she became one among the few in their community who graduated in college.

Delsa makes malam-an (traditional baskets made of woven buri where soaps are being placed) for a living. Since Orlando became very sickly due to old age, Delsa assumed the role of being a breadwinner in the family.

She never forgets to share the way their ancestor lived to her children. While young, she taught them the value of education, simplicity and hardwork.

They are able to make use of the Ati culture in their production of the malam-an. Delsa says that she can finish at least 20 pieces of malam-an in a day, which she sells for 5 pesos each.

When it comes to the organization, Delsa says that this is where she is facing a huge challenge. Being the chieftain, she feels the difficulty of leading a group of people with varying personalities and levels of participation. Her consolation is that unlike before, there are now more active members and more Ati children are able to go to school.

For Delsa, the soap-making enterprise has greatly influenced their living conditions. They were too impatient at first because they wanted to get paid right away. People could not blame them because that was their only source of income. After IP-LeD, more people are buying their products. They have developed their communication skills and confidence as well.

Her goal is not only on the provision for her children’s needs, but most importantly as tribal chieftain, she wants to ensure peace and economic sustainability among her people.

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One of the IP LeD fellows from Boracay Ati Tribal Organization is 28 year-old Marillian Justo. She stopped schooling at Grade 6 and her husband Martin (26) at Grade 3 due to lack of educational opportunities during their time.

Through the IP LeD training, Marillian is now able to work as a bookkeeper of the Boracay Ati Multi-purpose Cooperative and the Boracay Ati Soap Enterprise. The additional income she earns from this work contributes to the growing need of the family, especially now that their only daughter, Rosalie (10) is about to enter high school.

As one of the first batch of fellows under the program, Marillian saw the changes in the Atis. Their involvement in soap making increased their income and eventually helped them save for emergencies. The availability of molders contributed to this increase- they are now able to finish 4 trays (equivalent to 2,000 slices) of soap per day. At present, the Php150 allowance she used to get from the cooperative store increased to Php500 per month, excluding the payment she gets from making soap during production periods.

Their knowledge and skills on enterprise development and management were enhanced through the IP-LeD sessions. For her, the program also eliminated the culture of impatience and laziness among her people (Atis get impatient easily especially if they do not see immediate results). Marillian says that they have a clear direction now. The growing savings of the organization is being deposited in the bank. They allocate this for the improvement of Tubuanan Ati Learning Center so more Ati children can go to school.

“The community is better now compared to our previous situation in Bolabog (previous dwelling where they were displaced from)”, Marillian says in Filipino. “Before, most members are passive unlike now wherein people are becoming actively involved in most of the community development programs within the ancestral domain”, she adds.

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Paulo Sabilio, 23 years old works as a soap maker and at the same time as the delivery officer of the Boracay Ati Soap Enterprise. His wife, Rovilyn (21) works full time in taking care of their children, Alon (2 years old) and Alona (5 months old). Alon and Alona were named after the Filipino word “alon” which means “waves”.

Before, construction work served as the main source of income for Paulo. According to him however, this type of work is not stable since it’s not every day that there is work available. He stopped schooling at Grade 3, which made it even harder for him to find a stable job.

The assistance of ADF’S IP-LeD program resulted to the enhancement of their bath soap enterprise. Though not a direct student of the program, he is learning a lot from the other members and is now earning from it. Paulo feels really happy knowing that they already have something to focus on and are now becoming more productive.

Paulo is hopeful that with the existing enterprise, he can provide a good future for his children while at the same time contribute to the over-all development of Ati community.

Perla Supetran (58 years old) is also a member of the Boracay Ati Tribal Organization. After her husband died, she took the responsibility of raising their three children, Marlon (25), Argie (18), and Corgie (21). Of the three, only one (Argie) is still studying. The other two already have their own families.

Before, she can barely provide for her children’s basic needs. After engaging in the community business (as a malam-an maker), her estimated income per day when there are orders can go as high as 250 pesos, enough to sustain their basic needs.

Perla is happy because she does not have to go to far places to be able to earn money. The business opportunity is already within the village, thus, she can still take care of her children while working.

In terms of the organization, Nanay Perla says that even before there were very few active members. Now, more members are motivated to participate because of the livelihood opportunity provided for them.

There is also a change in the relationship between members. According to Nanay Perla, there are lesser fights and the Atis are now more able to control themselves. Meetings are usually done first before making decisions. The financial status of the enterprise is also being updated to them, though she said she does not think about it much.

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35 year-old Evangeline “Vangie” Tamboon was married at the age of 12 to Rowen Tamboon. They now have 4 children namely: David (20), Rogie (17), JR (13) and Rogilyn (11). They are also rearing 2 of her nieces and 1 nephew.

Vangie only finished elementary (Grade 6 graduate) while Rowen stopped after Grade 2. Knowing the importance of education, the couple is doing their best to send all their children including their nieces and nephew to school. David is currently a fourth year college student in Pamulaan Center for Indigenous Peoples Education while the others are studying in a public school within the island.

Vangie is currently the marketing officer of the Boracay Ati Soap Enterprise. She is also the one who supervises the construction concerns of their village.

Being one of the IP LeD fellows, Vangie was able to witness the changes in their community after being exposed to other community based enterprises managed and run by other indigenous peoples groups in the Philippines. She had seen the Atis become more united not only because of their fight for land but also because of their involvement in the community based enterprise.

Vangie considers the business a big help to their community. They are now learned in terms of regulating their products so they have lesser rejects. Marketing their products also enabled them to become more open-minded and confident in dealing with other people outside their culture.

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One of the members of the Program Management Team of the Boracay Ati Tribal Organization is Maria Forteza Tamboon. A native in Boracay, 38 year old Tamboon also works as a production manager of the Boracay Ati Soap Enterprise. She and her husband Oliver (36) were blessed with 4 kids: Olimar (15), Loymar (13), Marjun (9), and Marvin (7), all of whom are currently studying.

Oliver works in the construction inside the community. Despite this, Maria says that without the money she earns from the soap business, her family could not afford to send their children to school. She thinks that having educated and hardworking children can finally put an end to all types of discrimination.

Maria’s children are naturally cheerful kids. However, they are bullied by non-IPs because of their skin color. At one point, one of her son’s female classmates threw a book at him. Her son just cried and did not fight back. This is the reason why she is working hard to be able to send all of them to school.

In the organization, Maria said that at first it was hard for them to bring the members together. When they started the enterprise, there were only a few active members. Also, they did not have proper accounting system thus no one knew about the financial status of the enterprise. After the 2-year IP LeD program, she says that there had been some improvements. They are now able to report the financial status of the business whenever they conduct assemblies (usually held in the third week of each month).

Maria is thankful for the lifetime change IP LeD has brought into her life. “I learned how to run an community enterprise”, she said.