TVI

Nature is at its most beautiful in Canatuan.

    But after more than two years with TVIRD and countless stays in Canatuan – site of the company’s mining operations in the province’s southernmost town of Siocon – for my official duty as resident Public Affairs Officer I gradually learned to open my eyes to this “indigenous” world around me. Before I realized it, my up-close and personal interactions with the Subanons have moved me! Spending six weeks or so with them in each of my tours of duty (like most TVIRD employees who do not reside in Canatuan, I enjoy a six weeks on-two weeks off work cycle), which oftentimes require me to visit isolated sitios in and around Canatuan, I get to see the true living conditions of the Subanons in their homeland.

    The Subanons had fallen prey to promises of a better life years ago by unscrupulous individuals who exploited this tribe’s abundant natural resources. In the stories they have told time and again, Subanons often refer to the miserable life they had with small-scale miners, mostly transients and non-IPs, who operated illegally in Subanon land. The Subanons were in the dark; they had no access to social services and the environment was facing wanton destruction because of the small-scale miners’ unmitigated use of toxic substances and the indiscriminate cutting of trees.

    It was only when TVIRD came to Canatuan that the Subanons began to have hopes for a brighter future. Hopes that are gradually being translated into reality. I have seen the transition with my own eyes as I go about my daily routine on site.

    The day usually starts at 4 a.m. in the mine camp. Kitchen personnel are among the earliest to rise. As their pots and pans clang while they prepare breakfast, I start my day with a cup of coffee outside the Mess Hall. There I always get to witness how Canatuan, its surroundings, and its wildlife come to life as the sun rises just behind the mountains still engulfed in fog – a sight to behold. Birds would begin chirping in unison with the rustle of leaves as a cool breeze sweeps through the lush trees. Monkeys could be seen playing in the branches. Indeed, nature is as its most beautiful in Canatuan.

An early bird waiting for the first worm. The day usually starts at 4 a.m. in the mine camp.

    Farther down the mountains, however, are blemishes on nature’s canvass – the handiwork of man. Barren, sometimes still smoldering land, the result of swidden farming, can be seen in the distance. Where have the forest rangers gone? The so-called pro-environment advocates? The wanton slashing and burning of forests, a traditional farming method of Subanons, should be stopped, I often tell myself. I feel sad that some still hold on to this method, when they are quite capable of adopting alternative and environment-friendly farming techniques. Some of them have actually begun using the rice terraces method that the company has introduced in the community as part of its Sustainable Livelihood program for IPs.

    After breakfast and while on my way to the plant office some 2.8 kilometers away from the Mess Hall-Staff House complex, I always see Subanon children as they form a line at the waiting shed for the bus ride to their school in a place called Skyline. This school is one of the many that TVIRD has adopted, providing schoolrooms, computers, reading materials and laboratory equipment. I can see enthusiasm on the children’s faces, eagerly anticipating another day at school. And they’re courteous all the time. They always greet adult passersby “Good morning, ma’am and sir”. The company-paid bus driver begins his route also at 4 a.m. for him to be able to round up children who live several kilometers from the school, where some of the teachers are company-paid too. As the bus approaches, I ask myself: how many children in rural areas go to school…or get to it on a school bus?

These children are always courteous. Enthusiasm can be seen on their faces as
they eagerly anticipate another day in school.

    A hundred meters or so from the plant gate is the company clinic. Mothers and babies, as well as the sick, crowd the receiving area. It isn’t an unusual sight, even if the clinic operates 24/7, ready to serve not only employees but their relatives and the rest of the community as well. In some instances, the company nurse could be seen in the middle of the night or in the wee hours of the morning scurrying from the Staff House into a waiting TVIRD vehicle – another emergency involving a sick Subanon child, a mother in labor, or a gravely ill resident who needs to be evacuated to the nearest hospital, which is some 64-kilometers away. I wonder what happened to the sick in Canatuan before the company came here. People I talked to say even medicines were difficult to come by then…

    In a recent medical mission conducted by TVIRD in an acknowledged anti-mining community, more than a hundred Subanon men, women and children trooped to a makeshift clinic to avail themselves of the free medical and dental services, as well as the free medicines dispensed after the consultations. It was only the second time that a medical mission ever came to their village, and that time, two Subanon fresh graduates of a midwifery course, both TVIRD scholars, were part of the medical team as their way of “paying it forward”. All those medical and dental missions in some of the remotest communities in Western Mindanao were funded through the company’s Social Development Management Program or SDMP.

TVIRD clinic and community development personnel treating children during one of the company’s many medical medical missions in some of the remotest villages in Mindanao. “I wonder what happened to the sick in Canatuan before the company came here. People I talked to say even medicines were difficult to come by then…”

    After a day’s work at the plant, the trip back to the staff house is equally interesting. Along the way, children can be seen reading or playing outside their homes as their mothers tend their sari-sari (variety) store illuminated by electric bulbs. Electricity has made its way to this mountain tribe by way of the company generator. This basic service was unheard of in Canatuan even during the last decade of the 20th century. Now children can study their lessons at night, or play, or watch television like their counterparts in the lowlands.

    Also, an English song being sung by a Subanon on a “videoke” blares at a distance. They take pride in being able to read the lyrics on the monitor, something many of them weren’t capable of doing if not for the company-initiated literacy program for adults. Literacy levels used to be at very low levels in Canatuan, owing to the villagers’ inability to finish elementary or high school because of poverty. Happily, the numbers are rising.

    After a 10-minute ride, I arrive at the camp premises to hear excited voices. It’s another friendly basketball game between Subanon youths and off-duty employees, watched by a cheering crowd of wives, mothers and children. Did Subanon youths have the opportunity to play this much-loved sport in these islands, particularly at night? I doubt.

If TVIRD would leave, as some sectors want, will there be better alternatives
for the Subanons?

    After dinner and before I retire in bed, I couldn’t help but think of the things I saw during the day. Questions would flood my mind. What if the company hadn’t been here? Would all these developments have happened? Would the IP women have learned new skills that they’re now employing to earn extra money? Would the youth be involved in such activities as capacity-building and leadership training? Would poor but deserving students be able to attend and finish school through scholarship grants? And if TVIRD would leave, as some sectors want, will there be better alternatives for the Subanons? Why didn’t these sectors offer their alternatives during the small-scale mining regime? If lawful modern mining hadn’t come here, it isn’t hard to think that illegal small-scale miners could have easily taken over this land of the shy Subanon people, who would’ve remained virtual slaves to unscrupulous operators.

    I feel fortunate for having been given the opportunity to be an eyewitness to the positive changes that have come to the Subanons in recent years. (Somehow, I feel guilty, too, for not showing concern earlier when I could) The Subanons have been clamoring for all these but were ignored. Now I understand the Subanons better. They don’t want the hardships they went through to happen again to their tribe’s future generations. I am happy for them. And I am proud to be part of the developments that are happening to the Subanons’ way of life. I will never be ashamed to tell everyone about it: that I lived among the Subanons, and that I have seen the truth. And that all the stories being spread by unscrupulous people about TVIRD and the Subanons, are all but lies. I am an eyewitness to the Subanons development in Canatuan.

    As I slowly drift towards sleep, my children, whom I haven’t seen for weeks now, cross my mind. I see hope in their eyes, just as I’ve seen in those of the young Subanons of Canatuan. I look forward to yet another good day for them.

How many children in rural areas go to school…or get to it on a school bus?