In Basay, Negros oriental

CEBU, Philippines - Int’l Indigenous People Day celebrated w/ Bukidnon Magahat tribe.

The DSWD-7 and the local government of Basay town in Negros Oriental celebrated the International Indigenous People (IP) Day with the Bukidnon Magahat tribe by bringing a number of services to this minority group.

It was spearheaded by the DSWD through its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to alleviate the plight of the people of this tribe. The 4Ps is a poverty alleviation strategy of the national government providing conditional cash grants to identified poor households with children ages 0-14 years old.

Government officials headed by town Mayor Dandilgust Abrio and DSWD-7 personnel, overcoming potholes, muddy and slippery roads, brought into the area services such as giving of medicines, vitamins and health classes to pregnant and lactating IP mothers, while Lawrence Teves, agricultural technician of Bayawan City conducted training on poultry and livestock-raising with the use of artificial insemination.

Municipal social welfare and development officer Elmira Balila and Ronita Capuno, development management officer of the National Commission on Indigenous People held free birth registration for the tribe people. The municipal treasurer issued certificates of residence at a special rate of P5 each, thus giving tribal people the chance for a name and an identity.

Mayor Abrio, for his part, promised to have the road there paved and evened as soon as weather permits to enable agencies to make a follow up of services delivered to the area.

Bukidnon Magahat, dwindling in number, was once a separate tribe called Bukidnon and Magahat, both of which were known to signify fierceness and strength, with their names whispered by households with fear and awe. Over the years however, this description turned out more of a myth than real.

Having been displaced from their ancestral lands in the distant past and in later years, the tribes bonded together to be known later as Bukidnon Magahat.

In a study by the late anthropologist Dr. Timotea Oracion, the Bukidnon Magahat was noted to have practiced Swedish agriculture, hunted wild game, and collected edible forest products to supplement the harvest from their hillside farms.

Oracion described the tribe as a separate, distinct group with that had settled to this day in Cabatuanan.

As various industries sprouted destroying the ecological niche with the depletion of the lush vegetation of what they once upon a time considered home, the life of the Bukidnon Magahat tribe has been a continuous struggle for survival—until the recent IP Day observance. (FREEMAN)