1. Ifugaos Punnuk Celebration (ending the harvest season)
2. A prominent elder who hosted the huwah. Behind her is the
familys rice storage.
3. Elders help prepare younger children in their traditional
dress.
4. Drinking rice wine
5. The Cordillera rice terraces within the Ifugao province is
regarded as UNESCO heritage site; some of the terraces are
thousands of years old dating back to 650 AD.
6. An elder Mansaka woman Bia Sheena Onlos a young Mansaka
leader from Tagum City
7. Mansaka hands holding mama (betel nut). Betel nut is the
seed of the fruit from the areca palm and is communally used by
different indigenous groups throughout the Philippines and tropical
Asia.
8. A Mansaka man collects stones on the river edge which will
be processed with the hopes of extracting a small amount of gold.
The Philippines is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire that
contains much of the worlds copper and gold resources and
Compostela Valley (ComVal) province is often dubbed the golden
valley or the gold mining capital of the Philippines.
9. Town of Mainit in Compostela Valley. Although this area is
now prone to landslides it remains an important area for the
Mansaka people. Unfortunately, a decade ago, Mainit also was the
primary dumping ground for cyanide waste from the Apex Mining.
10. Mansaka children in the town of Mainit wait for free school
transport, provided by Apex Mining, to bring them down the mountain
to the nearest public school. The Mainit public elementary school
was closed in 2012 after Typhoon Pablo and will not reopen as the
area was declared uninhabitable by the government.
11. Mansaka boys taking an afternoon bath in the Mainit Hot
Spring. Many local Mansaka will come here to bath either early
morning or late afternoon after work.
12. Cooking liorot over an open fire. After the bamboo is
filled with different meats, herbs and root crops it is placed over
a fire where it cooks, creating an inclosed oven type of heat
inside the bamboo. The result is a delicious meal with simple yet
unforgettable flavors.
13. Datu Aguido Sucmaan holding his kudlog (two- stringed
guitar) in his home off of the national highway leading into Tagum
City.
14. The younger generation of Mansaka youth. Mansaka children
in Tagum City.
15. Datu Onlos attending a weekly city council meeting in Tagum
City. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, allows
mandatory indigenous representation in all policy- making bodies
and in local legislative councils.
16. Lakay Lausan a Tingguian man. He is one of the elders in a
small village in Abra province. Lakay Wa-aw is one of the older
Kankanaey men still around and at 92.His necklace is centuries old
and has been passed down from generation to generation. It is made
of wild boar tusks and crocodile teeth from the Visayas.
17. Traditional loom weaving provides livelihoods for a number
of different communities within the Cordilleras. The finished
products may be sold locally or sent to Baguio.
18. A Tingguian woman having a smoke in her home, Abra
Province.
19. A Kankanaey woman having coffee with her grandchild during
a mid-day break from working in the rice field.
20. Men distributing meat to all of the people who helped cook
and prepare the wedding food. As a token for their help different
size chunks of meat are given out depending on what the persons
role was during the preparation (in addition to being fed).
21. People waiting in a long line to visit the home of the
bride during lunch time. Everyone from the community is invited to
come and get food at the brides home for three days straight.
Wedding gatherings are some of the biggest social events held by
the Igorots.
22. Playing of gongs (ganza) and dancing is a fun and typical
part of the wedding celebration
23. Ghan-nao has one of the more elaborate tattoos that can be
seen in the village of Buscalan, Kalinga.
24. Fang-od giving a tattoo to a local tourist. She uses a
thorn from a pomelo tree which is attached to a piece of bamboo.
The bamboo that the thorn is attached to is then hit with a piece
of wood to drive the ink into the skin. The ink she uses is the
soot that collects on the bottom of the cooking pans she use at
home.
25. Men playing chess one afternoon in Buscalan, Kalinga.
26. A Bangon Mangyan woman smoking kwako (tobacco). The Bangon
are known for their pipes and even young children can be seen
smoking pipes.
27. An Iraya Mangyan man digging a fish pond near his home to
raise tilapia for his family
28. An Iraya Mangyan man mining for gold in a small river.
29. Collecting crops is a daily activity for most Mangyan
families. Children help gather whatever vegetables or root crops
are available for the day. Planting and harvesting crops consumes a
large percentage of their time.
30. Root crops such as sweet potatoes, ube and kamoteng kahoy
make up a large percent of the Mangyan diet. Here a mix of ube (the
purple root) and sweet potatoes. All their cooking is done over an
open fire.
31. A Hanunoo house after the sun goes down. There is no
electricity in the community making kerosene lamps essential to do
anything after dark.
32. Nais, a Hanunoo Mangyan woman writing Hanunoo script on a
fresh piece of bamboo. Nais is one of only three people in her
community that can still write the script, using a small knife to
carve the script on bamboo.
33. Many Mangyans made the long trip down from the mountains to
attend a free medical mission.
34. A Bangon Mangyan community near the edge of the Bongabon
River, Mindoro.
35. A Mangyan ritual
36. Young Agta man
37. An Agta man shows a Philippine Sailfin Lizard that was
caught in the forest. Once the lizards are large enough they are
sold to the Chinese market for a small profit. The Chinese use the
lizard as a medicine to help cure HIV.
38. A Dumagat man hunts for fish in the shallow murky waters of
Isabelas coast. Fish are the main source of protein for the
Dumagats and what they use to barter for other goods such as
coffee, tobacco and sugar.
39. Many of the Dumagats and Agta work as laborers in the
larger nearby towns. Here they are clearing a field in the town of
Divilacan for a local family.
40. A Dumagat woman attends non- formal class once a week to
learn how to write basic strokes. Most of the Dumagats and Agta
have never attended school, although some of the younger generation
is now starting to get formal education.
41. Agta children walking from their village into town to
attend school. Their school uniforms and backpacks have been
provided to them from different donors. Not all the children attend
school, but more and more are starting to go.
42. In one Agta community everyone gathers in the community
leaders house at night to watch the one tv in the village. They use
a generator for electricity in the evening and it seems to be the
highlight of the day for the children and adults.
43. Chieftain of one Agta community
44. Men from a Dumagat community play basketball before heading
out to fish for lobster at dusk
45. A Matigsalug tribal Datu (Chieftain) Datu (Chieftain) from
the Obu Manuvu tribe.
46. The tribal muse for the Klata tribe A boy from the Bagobo
tribe.
47. An Atta Manobo woman A Manobo man
48. Two stallions fight during an ethnic horse fighting event
practiced by the T'boli people of Mindanao.
49. Datu Biniti (tribal chieftain) of the Tigwahanon village.
The chieftain is in charge of judgements and conflicts within the
community and what he says is final.
50. Tigwahanon Village in San Fernando, Bukidnon,
Mindanao.
51. Women pounding palay (rice in its shell) to remove the rice
grains.
52. Vernan striping away an abaca plant to get its fine raw
fibers. Abaca fibers are sold to lowlanders as a source of
livelihood for the community.
53. A Manobo child in class at the community school where two
volunteer teachers give lessons. The school reopened in 2007 after
eight years of not having any teachers.
54. A Manobo man on his horse along the edge of the Salug river
in Bukidnon, Mindanao.
55. Community members from Blos ride a local kuliglig as their
main form of transportation when going back and forth to the larger
town of Maconacon. It's a two hour ride on one of these from
Maconacon to the Blos River.
56. Two Agta men catching an octopus in the rocky shore where
they headed out. They use a metal spear to pierce the octopus and
then it takes the two of them to pull it out of the rock. It was
very tasty when cooked.
57. Agta children playing basketball on the side of their
house. This was an activity the children were constantly playing
whether rain or shine.
58. A mother applying oil to her sick child's body. The baby
had a fever and rubbing oil on the body is a way to help the
child.
59. Two Agta men head out from their boat to look for lobster
near the town of Maconacon.
60. The rugged path to an Agta community in Cagayan province on
the western side of the Sierra Madre mountains.
61. Corn was a common crop grown in this community. It was a
nice change from canned tuna and rice every meal.
62. Taut Bato village,Singnapan valley
63. Panglima, a chief mediator of the Tau't Bato. Although
blowguns were traditionally used to hunt in the forest, shotguns
are now the more practical means for the Tau't Bato. Blowguns are
still used on occasion, but shotguns are now the weapon of choice
for hunting in the forest.
64. Cooking their version of what they call pancakes, a sweet
treat prepared from crushed rice, sugar and oil. It tasted very
good and they were able to sell these to neighboring families.
65. Making a bat catcher. The spines on the edges of the
branches are very sharp and clasp to anything that touches
them.
66. Removing live bats from the bat catcher; and cooking
freshly caught bat over an open fire. After the bat is slightly
charred over the fire it is cut up and fried in oil.
67. A Tau't Bato man pulling weeds from his rice in a
slash-and-burn field (kaingin) along the route to Singnapan valley.
This method of farming is common among the people here as it
provides needed space to grow their necessary crops.
68. Collecting honey from the forest after the queen bee has
been smoked out. Transporting kamoteng kahoy in Singnapan
valley.