TVI

by Julieta Guihamban, member, Siocon Subanon Women’s Association, Inc.

 

Our land is my life. Farming has been my family’s source of living starting from the time of my great grandfather. We have been farming in our lupa pusaka or ancestral domain that belongs to our tribe, the Subanons.

I was born in Catian, D. Riconalla, Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte. I met Loreto, who became my husband, in our barangay. We settled there, just six kilometers from Sitio Canatuan, which is host to the mining operations of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD). (Please see related story, “Siocon is top rice producer in Zambo del Norte” here).

Like our fathers, Loreto and I raised our children, all four of them, through farming. Our three hectares of land are planted with coconut trees. Beneath the coco trees are bananas, varieties of vegetables, and root crops. We both are frugal in our spending. We believe we are hardworking parents, too.

However, no matter how hard we worked, life remained difficult for us. We found it hard to send our children to school, especially to high school. Our eldest, Jimmy, only reached 3rd year. Small coconut farmers are really poor and I think this is not only true in our tribe and other tribes, but also to all farmers in this country.

I think the reason we are poor is because the price of copra is never stable. I heard the prices are dependent on what is dictated by the world market. There are times that the price is just P12 a kilo and the harvest will come every three months of the year. Thus, we only had income after every three months. Most of the time, our net income after every harvest ranges from P3,000 to P4,000 only.

So that the family would have additional income, I planted a wide variety of vegetables and root crops in all the spaces available in our land and sold them at the Siocon market. The income I got from selling vegetables helped my family a lot. In between harvest time for copra, we had a few more pesos in our pockets for our everyday needs.

When my brother, tribal leader Alfredo Limbang, invited me and my husband to settle in Canatuan, we accepted. Late 2006, we came up and settled in Tanuman, the settlement site of the Subanons who were affected by the mining operations of the company. At first, Loreto worked as security guard of the Siocon Subanon Association, Inc. (SSAI), the recognized holders of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) in Canatuan.

While Loreto was working with SSAI, I also started planting vegetables in a former kaingin (slash-and-burn) lot owned by my relatives. The income my husband got from his work at SSAI was small. But I was able to save because I do not have to buy vegetables and spices. My garden then was small.

When the construction of the Sulphide Plant started in June 2008, Loreto applied and was hired as helper. Our son, Jerry – whose family is staying with us – was also hired as electrician-helper of the Electrical Section of the Mobile Department after attending the training conducted by TVIRD Electrical Superintendent Alfredo Gonzaga. Around that time, too, I was invited by my sister-in-law, Nanida Limbang to join the Siocon Subanon Women Association, Inc. (SSWAI), an all-women organization of Subanons in Canatuan organized by the Community Relations and Development Office (CReDO) of TVIRD. After several meetings, I was invited to attend a session for Project FAITH or Food Always in the Homes. Here I met other women interested in farming and vegetable gardening.

The training opened my eyes to the destructive nature of the kaingin system, a method which I and other Subanons in my generation and older generations used in farming. SSWAI President Ana Combi and Rey Carubio, a manager in the company, also taught us how to farm on hillsides and to plant vegetables and other crops using empty sacks. He explained that by using this method we are able to utilize every available space that we have. In a mineralized place like Canatuan, soil is not as rich as in places that do not have minerals that can be mined. He also taught us how to make natural fertilizer using compost baskets placed on vegetable plots.

I applied the knowledge I learned from the training in my one-hectare vegetable farm. I cleared the area by cutting the grasses, which I left to decompose. I did not burn them, like I was used to doing before. I also did not cut a single tree! More than two months later, I started harvesting my pechay (Chinese cabbage), and alugbati (Malabar spinach). These were followed by rich harvests of squash, upo (bottle gourd) and patola (loofah), bell pepper, eggplants and radish. Sometimes I sold them to the company’s Mess Hall, or at the Siocon market.

I am very happy. We now have more than enough supply of vegetables for our dining table and I was able to save a few pesos for the small variety store I had always wanted to put up.

Last November, I opened my variety store near the Palin (Subanon place of worship) in Tanuman using the P3,500 I had saved from my vegetable sales. I am now selling rice, detergent bars, shampoos and hair conditioners, canned goods, salt, papers, ball pens and pencils, and, of course, my vegetables. I hope that this small store will continue to serve the household needs of my neighbors. I do not think it will grow into a big store. I just want that it would continue to provide the much-needed service it has started months ago.

We live in difficult times. Many of my neighbors cannot pay in cash. They have to incur debts for their needs. I am praying to the spirits that there would be no problems in the company’s operation so those of my neighbors who are employed there will not lose their jobs and will be able to pay their debts to me. I am also praying that during this hard time, the company will not be affected by it. I heard that there are many companies that are already closing down and many workers are losing their jobs. I hope it will not happen here.

Life now is a bit easier for me and my husband. Loreto receives wages and benefits that are much higher compared to his counterparts in other private companies in the Zamboanga Peninsula. I, too, have my own income which I could not have had if I did not plant more vegetables in a small portion of our ancestral land. I have so many people to thank: the government, which recognizes our right to live and work in our ancestral land; the company, which provides us jobs and equipped us with knowledge on how to preserve our land; and our tribal leaders and brother Subanons who through the years have struggled and continue to struggle to keep us united to be able keep what rightfully belongs to us.