2,000 years old Rice Terraces in Ifugao Province

The governor said that the native rituals, dances, songs and partaking of food for the festival “are, in fact, revival of one of the great traditions of the Ifugaos which were more than 2,000 years old. It is one of our ways to thank God for the bountiful harvest.”

Baguilat said that visitors from Manila like representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) were served with the native “binakle”, a cake made from pounded glutinous rice.

Earlier, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has campaigned for the festival which is now among the yearly big tourism activities which could attract more visitors to the area.

The rice festival, the governor said, is fitting to be held in all the towns in the province, site of the world-famous rice terraces.

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Geremy Gawongna, SITMO Media and Advocacy Officer said that primarily this activity hopes to sustain the viability of Ifugao Rice Terraces by improving stakeholders to effectively manage forest resources at the same time provide jobs to the people especially the youth in the heritage sites that would augment their financial needs and preserve their watersheds and rice fields.

He said the endangered terraces facing possible delisting as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an indication of our unmanaged mountains which is affecting our environment thus the landslides that have brought disaster and dry springs we experience today.

“This, the Ifugao people should work out,” he added.

To nurture indigenous knowledge focusing on indigenous practices in three heritage sites of Kiangan, Hungduan and Mayoyao, expertise of Indigenous Knowledge Professors and scholars were tapped.

Gawongna explained that among those that display indigenous engineering and architectural skills in the construction of a native house are the expertise of the Mayoyao people. This comes with the stone tiling which presents a clean surrounding and which makes a conducive area for drying palay harvest, including stone walling in rice paddies.

The municipality of Kiangan displays its indigenous rice production of “tinawon”, and the municipality of Hungduan its Land and Resource Management.

With the participation turn out, initiators of the forum hope to make it a continuous activity province wide.

LAGAWE, Ifugao — The Ifugao Culture Heritage Office (ICHO) here will enter into a Memorandum of Undertaking with the China Great Wall Society of China on the World Heritage Protection and Sustainable Development.

Sharon Sarol, outgoing ICHO Officer said that the signing of the MOU will expand mutual understanding and friendly exchanges between people of China and the Philippines.

“The undertaking will establish a cultural exchange program which implementation shall primarily involve the direct participation of the actual stakeholders of the world heritage sites and their immediate partners in sustainable development, including their associations and local government units,” Sarol said.

Geared towards uplifting the economic situation of the heritage owners, Sarol said that exchange of delegations including relevant experts, scholars and leaders of the world heritage sites in the Philippines and China and to share best practices in the protection of each others world heritage sites and promotion of sustainable development will boost tourism in both countries.

Within the framework of the agreement between the National Commission for culture and the Arts (NCCA) of the Philippines and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China, the ICHO has come up with this agreement due to the following concerns raised by heritage owners here as follows; the produce of the farmers is not enough to sustain the daily needs of their families; the heritage owners claim that they do not gain anything from the tourism side of the rice terraces, and they do not want to pass on the responsibility to maintain the rice terraces to their kids because they want them to go to school.

“These are some concerns which the farmers voiced out during our regular meetings with them,” Sarol said.

Sarol disclosed that since the China Great Wall Society, a government institution responsible for the restoration of the Great Wall of China reported that they have the same plight with the Rice terraces here the ICHO and the said institution can come up with strategies on how to save the two wonders of the world while taking into consideration the economic plight of the people maintaining it.

She added that about six kilometers of the Great Wall of China has been destroyed by the people. “According to the China Great Wall Society, the people made used of the bricks in constructing their houses or their pigpens.

“The said MOU will not go contrary with other agreements done at the national level,” Sarol said. The management of the said program will be easier if the heritage site owners are being organized she added.

The heritage sites in the province are the municipalities of Banaue, Hungduan, Kiangan and Mayoyao. (PIA-Ifugao)

According to Engr. Jos Aguana, municipal planning and development coordinator of this town, they are still harmonizing all efforts to maximize the development of this industry so that all the potential benefits that can be derived to help the people enjoy economic progress will come to fruition in the years to come.

Aguana identified the activities they have undertaken in 2006 relative to this program but admits that these are not enough and many things more has to be done.

This was confirmed by Jill Kwan, a US Peace Corps volunteer serving in this municipality and providing assistance for the attainment of the objectives of the eco-tourism program.

She said that Kiangan is a beautiful place with a reservoir of tourist attractions but which must be aggressively improved to attract and accommodate more of them.

If all of these are developed to their fullest potentials and all facilities are in place to serve the needs and demands of the tourists and visitors, this can greatly help improve the economic situation of the community, she added.

Among the activities undertaken the past years involve the development of some tourist spots such as the clearing of trails and pathways going to Mount Kapugan located at the northern side of this town.

This mountain is a good place for trekking and its altitude provides a nice spot for viewing beautiful sceneries of some villages of the municipality and the neighboring towns of Hingyon and Lagawe.

Another is the improvement of the trail going to the newly discovered but not yet fully explored Pangagawan Cave at barangay Bolog of which a lodging hut was already erected to provide spelunkers shelter as they try to explore the depths of the grotto.

Clearing of trails and construction of cottages were also done at the Bagnit Falls of barangay Julongan and Utu Falls of barangay Ambabagof which some tourists had already visited.

As accommodation of visitors and tourists is somewhat a problem, the municipal government conducted a feasibility study on the management of the sole youth hostel available and meanwhile endeavored in strengthening the home stays of private dwellings that can be tapped to solve the problem.

Documentation and promotion of tourist attractions was also conducted with the production of brochures and other promotional materials coupled with the preparation of tour packages and establishment of websites.

The municipality also established a monitoring system of tourist arrivals by putting up a tourist desk log book to register the entry of tourists and visitors thus making them safe.

To make them feel comfortable and enjoy their stay, policies and guidelines on tourist site management were prepared complemented with the revival of cultural programs such as the “Gotad ad Kiangan” participated by all the barangays during the summer season.

Kwan promised that before she leaves the place as her period of assignment will expire next year, she will see to it that the only hostel of the community will be renovated and improved.

Improvement of the hostel will include the construction of a cafeteria, an entertainment bar and other amenities. (PIA Ifugao)

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Gongs are sounded and the villagers dressed in traditional g-strings and colorful woven cloth gaily make binakle (traditional rice cakes) and baya (rice wine). Through the help of the non-government organization Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMo), participants were able to witness one of the fourteen rice festivals celebrated throughout the year.

Last August 26-27, the Bakle’d Kiangan was held at Julongan village in the Ifugao province. Visitors, mostly photographers and members of the press, were given a firsthand look into the way of life of the Ifugaos.

When the palay becomes golden brown in color, the Ifugaos harvest the rice from the famous rice terraces and hold a festival to give thanks for their harvest. The villagers pound diket or glutinous rice to be made into binakle (a sticky rice cake wrapped in leaves). They also offer two kinds of baya: the red rice wine and white rice wine.

Division of labor can be seen during the making of the binakle. The men pound the rice by using a heavy pestle while the women are in charge of winnowing the rice.

The highlight of the Bakle festival is the ritual of sacrifice. In it, the elders pray to the gods and sacrifice a hen and rooster’s blood as an offering to the bulul. When the rooster was being offered, it put up a fight, causing it to upturn the container with the collected blood. The elder commented that the spirit was struggling and that we needed to pray to appease it.

Even though others might brand these rituals as being paganistic, most Ifugaos are already Catholics and they conduct these rituals in order to preserve them for future generations. They also do these in the hopes of receiving more blessings in the future. It is their belief that the entrails of the sacrificed chickens hold the key to having a blessed year. After the blood letting, the two chickens are cut open and the elders check to see if their gallbladders are in good condition. If the chicken’s gallbladder is intact, this signifies a good year ahead for all the participants. If not, the Ifugaos will keep on sacrificing chickens until the gods are appeased. Luckily for us, the gods were in our favor so they only had to sacrifice two chickens.

The culminating activity was a cultural night that featured young children and adults dancing the traditional dances of their forefathers.

The Ifugaos take pride in their rich culture and heritage but economic factors are compelling them to abandon rice farming and seek greener pastures elsewhere. But SITMo staff and volunteers are dedicated to preserving the culture that nurtures the Ifugao rice terraces – the 8th wonder of the world and part of the UNESCO World Heritage list.

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