Women of Banahaw

Many of us know of Mount Banahaw for its mystical beauty and the spiritual awakening people experience when they hike along its many trails. It is known as the rainforest mountain while its companion Mount Cristobal seems to be the more arid area, but both are known destinations for spiritual retreats.

I spoke with my friend and business partner Jeannie Javelosa about Banahaw and its environs as she has established a home there many decades ago. During the Covid lockdowns, Jeannie found herself staying in her sacred mountain home; two other women – a chef and the other a philanthropist – would drop by and help out in her new project, the Banahaw Circle Nature Retreat. They formed a Tres Marias group to build an ecosystem with the local community in Dolores town, serving local fare and producing honey, jams and pickles. They did this while teaching the women new skills as well as introducing them to new markets for their community products.

Jeannie went there many decades ago not knowing why, just that she knew she was being called by the mountain. As many other believers would agree, the mountain calls you through a force they call “Santong Boses” (a saintly voice, loosely translated). And upon arriving at the site, Jeannie and other friends (who were also ‘called’) built their homes and lived in the mystical spot.

One of them was Boy Fajardo, an herbalist who was the Deparment of Health’s resource person for medicinal herbs. Boy passed a few years back and before Covid came, his family sought Jeannie’s assistance to help them make a hostel- or bed and breakfast-type accommodation.

Fast forward to today, Banahaw Nature Circle Retreat is now a Mabuhay level DOT-accredited tourist facility. They serve food, conduct walking tours and, more importantly, they have involved the local community.

From among the women in the area they found home cooks, tour guides and farmers who could plant vegetables, take care of chickens and harvest honey. We also helped out by training them in planting and harvesting coffee, which is now in the ECHOfarms Banahaw area. Jeannie and partners have acquired more land to plant coffee, indigenous trees and eventually maybe even set up today’s trendy business, a senior retirement facility, More and more seniors now want to live with other seniors (not necessarily family) in places where there are medical facilities, community events and where they can live like normal people but away from the urban jungle.

Jeannie, ever the creative entrepreneur, has talked to the women to learn new skills for their ecosystem besides tour guiding. They now raise chickens and ducks, cook food and prepare local delicacies for the visitors to the retreat house.

The tour guides lead the day hikes and “pamumuwesto” (loosely translated as going through stations), while Jeannie also offers yoga and meditation classes for other parties. There is a lot to do in  Banahaw, which others have labelled as part of “faith tourism.” After all, these mountains have been sacred since the pre-colonial times when many Filipinos were animists, and not the many Christians we know today. The practice of going through the “puwestos” or stations have been preserved through the years.

Other than just faith tourism, Jeannie has diversified the offers to engage the locals and visitors in sustainable community tourism. The locals are very much involved and this is what makes the activities highly sustainable as a regular offering to tourists, both foreign and local. Groups also join for team building or just simple camaraderie among friends who love nature.

Jeannie is one person who can string together many business ideas because of her exposure to culture, the arts and, more recently, to women in weaving under the Great Women banner which we both worked on in the ASEAN region. We gave lectures and training to women groups in far away places like Myanmar. In most ASEAN member-states , women weave as a hobby and for added income. Jeannie is exposed to ASEAN art and culture, having worked in the regional space and during our projects, taking ASEAN women to the Philippines to train on coffee or weaving.

Weaving goes hand in hand with food culture wherever you go in our own country. We have been to the north in Tublay, Benguet to down south in Marawi City and have introduced business ideas to communities of women weavers, coffee farmers and food processors.

It is all about community involvement, which Jeannie has evolved in Banahaw. She has set an example for community-based sustainable tourism. When the community members have a singular goal of providing a unique experience for tourists, the activity and income generation become sustainable.

We now see this happening in Dolores, Quezon trhough Jeannie’s Banahaw model.  We hope that many more community groups adopt the same practices of combining the features of their area (in this case, faith tourism) with good food (Slow Food principles applied, of course) and alternative experiences like nature hikes and foraging in rainforests for local flora.

Even yoga enthusiasts and practitioners have a space in Banahaw as Jeannie has used her being a certified yoga instructor and, along with her friends, have made yoga and meditation a part of their services or activities at the retreat. Community members can provide various services to tourists like “hilot” massage, which is a different experience for tourists who only are familiar with shiatsu, Swedish and Thai versions. Hilot as a therapeutic massage is offered instead of ayurvedic or some other traditional treatment borrowed from other cultures. We have our very own Filipino style called hilot, which today’s youth have probably never tried.

Banahaw is a good example of how a community comes together for a tourist experience that is different, activity-based  and is sustainable for many generations to come. It does take a village and this is how it can be replicated across the country.

Kudos to Jeannie and her women partners, and thanks to the bold men who help out these enterprising women of Banahaw. Catch my episode with Jeannie soon in the Good and Green podcast.