Southern Sierra Madre covers parts of Rizal, Laguna, Quezon, Aurora, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija. I spent some childhood days in the uplands of Tanay in Rizal and Sta. Maria in Laguna but it was eight years back while doing community research that I first explored the interior of the mountain range. Captivated by the beauty of nature and charm of the local people, countless of return trips to the interior would soon follow.
Almost paradise
The crystal-clear waters of Lumutan and Lanatin and their tributaries have always been mesmerizing. Crossing their transparent waters flowing above multi-colored pebbles is one of life’s most beautiful experiences. Myriad of inviting waterfalls are everywhere. Steep slopes hang all around. Giant boulders abound often blocking the trails. The wet and rugged terrain always thrills, provoking questions of what lies ahead. The sound of wildlife resonates day and night especially in areas with remaining forests. All these lie between the peaks of the lush and cloud-covered mountains of Irid and Malabito.
Whenever I hike through the sierra, I see locals enjoy the wealth bestowed on them by nature. In the waters, people use rubber-propelled projectiles to catch tilapias and eels. They call this method pamamana. Others catch fish using apron-like clothes hanging in front of their torso. Pamumulig as what the locals say. Some washing clothes, some taking bath. On slope, people make clearings for crops. Others simply traverse the long and lonely trails. Locals show courtesy and warm friendship by offering food or nganga (betel) to anyone they meet on trail. Boisterous laughter of children is heard in villages across the mountains.
Locals are known for their typical rural hospitality. One may eat and sleep in homes that may immediately welcome visitors upon first encounter. Never have I brought with me tent and utensils in my lone visits.
Doing community research on a vanishing indigenous people meant trailing the uplands of Tanay in Rizal and General Nakar in Quezon. One Christmas season, despite being a stranger, I was warmly welcomed as a guest by a family in far-flung Sitio Makalya. It was raining nonstop for days. I stayed with my hosts until the surging waters of an overflowing stream crossing my route subsided. Hiking around twenty-four kilometers back to Tanay on steep slopes and rugged trails after being lost in the wilderness for hours was another story worth remembering.
Trekking the sierra has always been exhilarating and educating. Just being alone on trail gives one the opportunity to reflect on life and connect with the spiritual. Locals are sources of life lessons too. Many of them are keepers of knowledge of local languages and history, and of folk science and medicine. Spending time with both nature and strangers in the interior bestows a feeling of freedom and spiritual enrichment.
Environmental destruction
However, trekking Southern Sierra Madre also evokes disappointment and irritation. The sierra shows blatant evidence of man’s wanton and destructive activities. There are times when the sound of wildlife is drowned by the sound of chainsaw. Hundreds of thick slabs of hardwood pass through the length of Lumutan River almost unceasingly. The slabs in columns are tied from edge to edge, forming very long rafts that may measure hundreds of feet in length. The balsas squirm like gigantic centipedes downriver. Their destinations are villages with awaiting buyers. It is also not unusual to see damaged streams and waterfalls that are used as chutes for sliding logs toward the river. On land, tree poachers use carabaos and horses to transport the slabs.
Locals claim that they are forced by the situation to poach trees.
“Kahirapan ang dahilan kung bakit maraming tao, mapa-settler man o katutubo, ang nalululong sa pagtotroso (Poverty is the reason why many people are involved in illegal logging be them settlers or natives),” remarks Rodel Sta. Ana, 35. Sta. Ana is a chieftain of a village in Tanay. He has welcomed mountaineers and researchers to his home for years. I am one of those who experienced the hospitality of his family.
“Kailangan ng mga magkakahoy ng makakain at panustos sa pang-araw-araw na pamumuhay (The illegal loggers need food and money for their everyday expenses),” explains Sta. Ana. “Bukod dito, kailangan din nila ng kita upang mapag-aral ang kanilang mga anak. Kalimitan, ang mga paaralan ay nasa malalayong sitio o barangay. Dapat may panggastos ang mga bata upang makapag-aral nang ayos (Besides, they need money to send their children to school. Usually, schools are in far-flung sitio or baranggay. The children need money to support their study.)”.
A man living near a tall waterfall blames not only the tree poachers for the deforestation. Employed by a government agency as a forest caretaker, Yuni Pranada, 56, insists that tree poachers are just “in dire need of small amount to survive.”
What encourages tree poachers to cut trees and sell logs is the expectation that their produce will always have buyers and users. Reasonably, just like what Pranada claims, buyers and users of illegally cut logs are also to be blamed for the continuing destruction of forests.
Local elders claim that deforestation started when commercial logging entered Southern Sierra Madre way back 1950’s. Logging concessionaires ravaged forests and disrupted the ways of indigenous people especially those in the uplands of Rizal. Today, however, locals seem to be casting the last nail on forest destruction.
Ruding dela Cruz, 65, an elder in one of the most isolated village in Tanay, claims that indigenous people poach trees partly due to hopelessness and partly due to the sense of ownership of resources. According to him, indigenous people started poaching trees a few decades back after they realized that their forest was being ravaged by outsiders- loggers, hunters and settlers- all from the lowlands.
Unregulated kaingin also has its serious contribution to deforestation as much as to siltation. Clearings without benches, terraces or greenbelts extend from hilltops down to riverbanks. A settler claims that no agency or organization visits the area to teach locals about environment-friendly farming methods. He adds that training-seminars on such topic are most needed to improve lives as well as preserve the natural environment.
Basilio dela Cruz, 54, former chieftain of Sitio Paimuhuan in Quezon, tells of a time when fish and animals were abundant. He recalls the days when hunters caught an average of ten heads of wild boars and deer for every hunt. He also reminisces catching plenty of fish and giant eels in the river.
“When I was a child, only adults could cross the Lumutan because it was deeper then than it is today,” says dela Cruz. “The rapids were stronger. Trees covered all the lands. Today, there are more open spaces than forests. The decimation of trees resulted to erosion and less water in the river. These days, there are fewer fish and animals to catch.”
Erosion also occurs due to unregulated mining. Locals complain that one part of the Lumutan was bulldozed to expose precious metals and minerals causing much siltation and damage to landscape. To add to deforestation and unregulated mining, destructive fishing methods are practiced by some locals and visitors. Sodium cyanide, electrocution, and dynamite fishing are employed to exploit the bounty of rivers and streams.
Dam projects
The impending construction of two dams in Southern Sierra Madre is also being blamed by locals for forest destruction. Laiban Dam in Rizal is intended to channel the waters of Lumutan and Lanatin to Metro Manila for domestic and industrial use. Kanan Dam in Quezon is being planned to tap Kanan River to generate electricity to further the industrialization of CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon). Non-government and community-based organizations are against the construction of dams due to the anticipated inundation of upland communities and endangerment of nearby lowland communities. The news of dam construction causes much anxiety among locals. Many people think that it is better to cut and sell the trees than for the trees to be rendered useless by inundation.
An important ecological niche
An environmentalist organization identifies Southern Sierra Madre as an area that may be sustaining the Philippine eagle. No wonder why elders of the indigenous tell stories of “giant birds” majestically gliding the skies in days long gone. A Metro Manila-based college has established a wildlife center in Laiban, Tanay. The college conducts a reforestation project in the area. The Irid-Angilo mountains, in the midst of the provinces of Rizal, Quezon and Bulacan, are sources of numerous rivers and streams. A research group proposes for the declaration of Irid-Angilo as a protected area.
Organizations and agencies consider Southern Sierra Madre as an important ecological niche. Totally losing sierra to exploiters means destruction in cataclysmic scale for both man and nature.
Indigenous peoples
Aside from being a biological refuge, Southern Sierra Madre is home to a number of indigenous peoples. In the Mts. Irid-Malabito area, the indigenous peoples are the Kanan Dumagats, the Kaliwa Dumagats and the Remontados. Most of the Kanan Dumagats are native speakers of the Umiray Dumaget language. Most of the Kaliwa Dumagats are native speakers of the Hatang Kaye language. Most of the Remontados, if not all, have already adopted Tagalog as their native language. However, a few of the indigenous are trilingual, having the ability to shift easily from one language to another when conversing with fellow locals. All these groups claim ancestral domain over a large part of the mountains.
Unfortunately, one of the groups, the Kaliwa Dumagat, is fast losing its identity and native language vis-à-vis environmental destruction.
Much is to be lost
“Much is to be lost in the mountains”, says Libin Supremo, 72. “The higher grounds are our last refuge.” Still living the semi-nomadic way, Supremo and his wife always transfer residence across the mountains. The Hatang Kaye-speaking elders expect a time when they will finally lose all their lands to outsiders. They also fear that the continuing abuse against the environment will inflict serious harm on everyone sooner or later.
Like Supremo, Meding Doroteo, 65, is a Hatang Kaye-speaking Kaliwa Dumagat. This elder, who sometimes converse in rhymes and riddles, is much worried about the future of Southern Sierra Madre. Passionately, she speaks of what remains of the land of her forebears. With teary eyes, Aling Meding laments:
“The wild herbs and animals of our childhood are gone. Lowlanders encroach and claim our lands. The dam will inundate us. Our identity is fading. Often, I gaze at the remaining forests and the sparkling waters. Always, I ask myself the same questions. What future do we have in these mountains? What can we leave our children in this vanishing paradise?”
