President Marcos urged: Save disaster-hit Batad rice terraces

BATAD, Banaue, Philippines — Ifugao province has appealed to President Marcos to release urgent financial aid to save the Batad Rice Terraces from further destruction, months after Super Typhoon Uwan triggered a deadly landslide.

Delays in the release of government funds have slowed efforts to repair the UNESCO-protected site.

Villagers are racing against time to avert more damage with the onset of the rainy season, which some experts predict could be more extreme due to El Niño.

The landslide last November killed two people and ripped apart one of Batad’s centuries-old canals, leaving some parts of the rice terraces disfigured. Over two hectares of rice paddies were damaged, affecting 150 farmers, in what residents described as the “worst” calamity to hit their community in recent memory.

Following the disaster, Batad residents raised money on their own and carried out bachang, a communal work similar to bayanihan, to help affected villagers.

Despite limited resources, they dug through mud and rocks that nearly buried a school building sheltering evacuees.

“We are hoping that President Marcos will hear our plea for help,” Ifugao Gov. Jerry Dalipog said during Batad’s recently concluded Tinawon Rice Harvest Festival. Tinawon, which means “once a year,” is Batad’s heirloom organic rice – prized for its robust grain that is full of aroma and free of pesticides.

At the festival, Dalipog announced the release of P2 million in aid for Batad. But he said major rehabilitation needs funding from the national government.

Steve Baccay, provincial agriculture and environment office chief, said an estimated P30 million is needed for rehabilitation.

Rising 1,100 meters above sea level like an amphitheater, Batad is one of the five networks of rice terraces across four towns in Ifugao. The terraces, which have captivated both Filipino and foreign visitors, have been inscribed as a UNESCO site since 1995.

What sets Batad apart from the other terraces are its stone walls that have remained mostly intact over centuries, said Dalipog, who previously served as mayor of Banaue.

In 2011, a major landslide struck Batad, prompting then president Benigno Aquino III to order the release of P20 million from the Department of Agriculture (DA). The Netherlands-based Prince Claus Fund also donated money for repair.

In 2018, president Rodrigo Duterte approved an additional P30 million for further restoration, coming from the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

Dalipog said he is hoping Marcos would approve a similar amount of funding. It was Marcos’ father and namesake, president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who declared the terraces as a national treasure in the 1970s.

“We are very proud of our rice terraces. They are priceless treasures not only for Ifugao, but for the entire Philippines,” Dalipog said.

“So it is really important that we maintain and protect them for generations to come,” he added.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. is set to visit Batad on June 26, to assess the damage and report to the President, the governor said.

Batad barangay chairman Romeo Heppog said it is crucial for Marcos to allocate enough funds in order to speed up repair.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done soon,” Heppog said.

Eroded portion still exposed

Reynaldo Diocton, a senior specialist from the DA’s Philippine Rice Research Institute, said the rehabilitation must be carried out immediately before the next typhoon triggers more erosion.

“Much of the eroded portion of the rice terraces are still exposed,” Diocton observed, pointing to the pile of loose soil and rocks sitting next to a cluster of houses.

“The more you leave it that way, the worse the damage will be when the next typhoon comes.”

In April, the Department of Social Welfare and Development employed 120 villagers for 20 days under its food for work program. But the villagers have not yet received their food packs until now, according to Joel Langihon, a farmer who participated in the project.

Later this month, 120 Batad villagers will also begin rebuilding the stone walls. For 20 days, they would receive P505 in daily compensation under the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tupad program.

One funding that remains tied up in government bureaucracy is a P3.5-million grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). That should have already been released after a smaller-scale landslide hit Batad in 2024, said Ramon Binalit, a respected elder and heritage advocate.

Binalit said the Banaue municipal government has been “repeatedly” asked by the NCCA to submit documents for compliance, only to be met with more “frustrating” delays. Last January, town officials lobbied the NCCA to release the fund during a meeting in Banaue.

The NCCA has yet to issue a statement on the matter despite multiple attempts at seeking comment from the agency.

What farmers from Batad and similar communities in Ifugao truly need is an annual subsidy that encourages heritage protection while financially sustaining their families, said lawyer Marlon Martin, head of the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement.

“The farmers also need to send their children to school and earn a living for their daily needs,” Martin, who traces his roots in Batad, said.

While awaiting the government’s next step, farmers like Langihon have taken it upon themselves to fix their damaged plots, cutting rocks one piece at a time and hauling mud to help reinforce the collapsed walls.

“I am doing this not just for myself, but also for my children and my children’s children,” Langihon, a father of seven, said.

Seven months on, life in the village has slowly returned to normal. At the harvest festival on May 29 to 31, Batad held traditional games and communal banquets to celebrate the occasion. But the large scar from the landslide remains – a constant reminder of the difficult work ahead for the community.

“There’s no other way but to restore these terraces, because this is our way of life as Ifugaos,” Heppog, the barangay chairman, said.

“But we need the country’s help to save Batad.”