Wanderings of a Burawanon

Isla Uling

2009-08-16T01:28:00.000-07:00

The place is actually named Sitio Pulo and is said to be well-known in the 80's with actors like Tirso Cruz III flocking to its clean shores to escape from hot, mad Manila, as mentioned in Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros' blog. Now it has become Isla Uling (literally means "charcoal island") because of its people's means of living. They produce coal out of the garbage and waste, coming from different parts of Metro Manila, that fill its surrounding sea.

An Pasko ni Intoy/Intoy's Christmas

2009-07-28T05:53:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from An Pasko ni Intoy/Intoy's Christmas

An Pasko ni Intoy/Intoy's Christmas is a 30-minute video documentary that portrays the bitter-sweet Christmas of a child-laborer in a remote, swampy community in Leyte. I directed/produced this video together with my classmate Em Hidalgo for our production thesis. It was awarded Best Thesis (Docu Category) in our batch. It has also won awards outside our school such as Best Short Film in the Student Catholic Mass Media Awards 2008, 2nd place Docu Category in the 20th Cultural Center of the Philippines Independent Film and Video Competition, and Best Documentary in the 10th Ateneo Video Open.

It was soo fun doing this film. We immersed in the community for almost a month during our Christmas break. We took hour long walks with the kids to their school. We had to learn to pee in makeshift toilets, walk on knee-deep mud, survive without electricity, ride a canoe, and fear about it getting capsized, us drowning and our all-borrowed equipment getting wet. We also had to take a 2-hour motor boat ride to the town proper and back every two days just to charge our camera's batteries.

But in exchange of these little sacrifices, we feasted over fresh seafood and had regular tuba-drinking session with the locals. The children also gave us free paddling-a-canoe tutorial (though we never learned). Here are the behind the scene photos:

R-L: Intoy, the docu's main subject, and his buddy Ian

My thesis partner Em

Em directing our camera man Rayg

Rayg shooting Intoy's brother Kim-kim carrying fronds of nipa palm

Inday. She is the only female kid in the community

And finally, that is me, marvelling at the place

I wish to thank these people who made significant contributions to the production of this film:
Ditsi Carolino for lending us her Sony TRV900, Senheisser boom mic, tripod, the financial aid, and for all the advicing; Ms. Ervina Espina for translating the film from Waray-waray to English; Kuya Benj for the free technical support; Rayg, for all the free services; Renei, Kets, Valen, Flau, Emae, Mich, and Trix for the moral and immoral support; and of course the locals of Sitio Palanas, Brgy. Butason, Tabango, Leyte.

Portraits of the Sumilao Marchers

2009-07-26T00:39:00.000-07:00

Philippines is one of the countries that has the most problematic agrarian reform program. For over decades that this was implemented, lands that were supposed to be distributed to the farmers remain in the hands of the landlords. These landlords always find a way to circumvent the law. Most of them would guard their land with heavily armed men to keep the farmers away. While others would do tactics such as apply to convert their land into an industrial land despite it being categorized as prime agricultural land. This is the case of the Sumilao marchers.

The Sumilao marchers are these farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon who walked from their town to the Malacanang Palace in Manila hoping to meet the president and ask her to revoke the conversion order that was issued to their land. Besides being a prime irrigated land which their ancestors had tilled for years, for them this land is holy. The Sumilao farmers belong to a tribe called Higaonon and this is where they conduct their rituals.

And so they they travelled on foot 1,700 kilometres for more than two months to regain this land that rightfully belongs to them.

Pasdong, Village of the Ibaloi Tribe of Benguet (3 of 3)

2009-06-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Pasdong is 4 to 6-hour jeepney ride away from the Baguio City proper. It actually takes lesser time to get there thru a private vehicle. A jeepney only has to make several detours, for instance to a hardware or a grocery store, besides the usual stops to pick-up passengers, because it also serves as the community's FedEx. Since the village is remote and the trips are rare, the locals would ask the driver to get them something from the city, or deliver something to somewhere. And to compensate for the cost of the gasoline, as the trip is long ang mostly uphill, the jeepney has to be as jampacked as it can be.

The village from afar. The place is found at the foot of and between mountains and hills.

An icy cold stream runs along the barangay

Which explains the presence of several hanging bridges in the place (I was excited to see a lot of them especially that I had only seen them in films. It was my first time to actually cross an authentic hanging bridge.)

Most of the locals are organic farmers who use unprocessed chicken dung as fertilizer which according to one of our companions, Ramon Mapa, the Executive Director of PILCD, has its own downside. The acid coming from the chicken dung makes the land infertile after a while.

Side view of the barrio chapel. I like its windows. It's the style of the windows of most houses in Benguet as well as in Ifugao. They're intentionally small to keep their houses warm.

Portraits of the Ibalois of Pasdong:

Pasdong, Village of the Ibaloi Tribe of Benguet (2 of 3)

2009-06-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

These two kids kept on tailing me while we were in Pasdong. They were probably amazed with the DSLR I was always carrying around my neck. They loved to pose for the cam and how they laughed whenever I showed them their photos. But unlike the other kids in the village, these two kids would not talk to me. All I'd hear from them were their soft laughters. They also seemed aloof from the rest of the kids. Their looks are quite unique, as well. I was told by a companion that theirs is the typical Ibaloi features.

The first photo was taken the day we arrived. The second photo was taken the following day.

Pasdong, Village of the Ibalois (1 of 3)

2009-06-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

After days of being confined in an office editing an AVP, I was itching to get somewhere else. Since I got into a serious video editing work, I have always believed I'm never going to be a good editor. My impatience and love for the sun and the outdoors will always steer my concentration away from my work. So when my friend, Lem, told me he has a shoot somewhere in Baguio and he was leaving in a few hours, I voluntered to tag along even if it meant leaving a lot of work behind.

The day was fine when we reached Baguio. After meeting our companions who mostly worked for PILCD (People's Initiative for Learning and Community Development) - an NGO based in the city - we went straight to the jeepney terminal to catch the only trip to our destination that day. We were off to Brgy. Pasdong in the town of Atok, Benguet.

To get the full view of Benguet, Lem and I decided to take the top load. We travelled through the thick fog. It was heaven!

The narrow, winding and uphill road added more thrill to our trip. Some parts of it were unpaved, especially those that run along communities were there were less registered voters. Concreting the roads according to our companions is political. If you want to see paved roads, you go to the barangay where the town Mayor resides.

Tribute to a Farmer-Leader

2009-06-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video tribute for Reneto "Ka Rene" Penas that Ditsi Carolino and I made a few days after he was murdered. Ka Rene was the leader of the Sumilao farmers who walked from Mindanao to Manila to "reclaim" the land awarded to them thru the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Pag-alala kay Ka Rene 1/2

Pag-alala kay Ka Rene 2/2

I first met Ka Rene when I assisted Ditsi in shooting their march while they were in the Bicol area. He was cheerful but a strict and disciplined leader and his enthusiasm was contagious. Despite often wearing a brief over his head (to sun-dry it) during the march, his co-farmers respected and followed his orders.

He was a funny man. I remember him - when I visited them at their camp in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform - telling me that he needed to go to Eunilane to buy some briefs. He said, while comically scratching his head, that his wife sent him his clothes from Bukidnon but she failed to include his underwears.

The last time I saw him was during the Red Carpet screening of Ditsi's film Lupang Hinarang. He asked me, as he always did everytime we met, why he no longer saw me in their protests. I told him I was helping in the editing of Lupang Hinarang. Then I asked, pointing to Diether Ocampo who was posing by the photo-op wall, if he already had pictures with the celebrities who were present. He said yes. I joked, "but not with me yet." And it was the last time I saw him laugh.

This video was shown during the vigil at the Dela Stradda Chapel along Katipunan Ave. and before the funeral march in Sumilao. The clips in the video are from Lem dela Cruz's footage of the Banasi farmer's march from Bicol to Manila which was also led by Ka Rene. Some are excerpts from Lupang Hinarang.

Anawangin Cove, Zambales

2009-04-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Danlagan Island (Padre Burgos, Quezon)

2009-04-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

The island's caretaker.

Bloody Red Friday in Unisan, Quezon

2009-04-20T05:08:00.000-07:00

Unisan, Quezon

2009-04-19T03:07:00.000-07:00

sea urchin

PAKISAMA's Role in the Campaign for the Reform and Extension of CARP (AVP/Music Video)

2009-04-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

This is a short AVP/music video which I edited for a peasant organization, the Pambansang Samahan ng mga Kilusang Magsasaka. The footage belong to a friend, Lem de la Cruz of Kilusang Magsasaka, who documented the Banasi and the Sumilao farmer's "walk for land, walk for justice." This video was shown during PAKISAMA's 7th national congress. It portrays the organization's crucial role in the campaign for an effective agrarian reform law.

"Ha Homonhon" as Reported in Newsbreak and Abs-cbnnews.com

2008-10-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

After the screening of Ha Homonhon (In Homonhon) - a documentary film I did about the mining in the island of Homonhon in Guiuan, Easter Samar - this article came out:

Mining conflict: Farmers claim company seized their lands
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURPLE S. ROMERO, abs-cbnNEWS.com, Newsbreak 10/10/2008 8:13 PM

All may be well in the island of Homonhon right now, but Marina Amoroto, who resides in Brgy. Bitaugan, believes that the apparent peace serves as the calm before the storm.

A couple of months ago, on August 9, 2008, around 200 residents from barangays Cagusuan and Pagbabangnan raided the barracks of Cambayas Mining Corp. in Homonhon, eastern Samar.

Cambayas Mining Corp. (CMC) is reportedly owned by Chinese company Peng Cheng. According to the March 31, 2008 Mining Tenements Statistics Report of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), CMC is currently applying for a mineral sharing production agreement.

The attack was staged mostly by farmers who claimed that the mining company seized the lands awarded to them by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through a certificate of stewardship agreement in 1992.

The certificate of stewardship agreement allots its owner the right to till a portion of the forest land for 25 years. Amoroto said that a number of families in her barangay were awarded the certificate.

Amoroto added that nobody from their area is yet up in arms against CMC because they are still able to work on their lands freely, unlike in Brgy. Pagbabangnan, where signs of “No Trespassing” have purportedly been erected on the farmers’ soil.

Mayor's 'permit'

One of those farmers who was greeted with a “No Trespassing” sign when he visited his farm last March 2008 was Eladjio Princillo, or “Tata Ladying.”

Princillo plants kalamansi in his three-hectare land in Brgy. Pagbabangnan, which under the certificate of the stewardship agreement, is placed under his care until 2017.

He was surprised to see the sign, but opted not to take things sitting down. Princillo’s attempt to “regain” his land is chronicled in the documentary “Ha Homonhon,” produced by a group led by Daniel Canada, a member of the non-government organization Kilusang Mangingisda.

As shown in the documentary, Princillo went to the local office of DENR to ask why he was allegedly being prevented from entering the land awarded to him by the government in 1992.

Sadiri Pastores, an environment and natural resources community officer in the neighboring municipality of Guiuan, advised Princillo to put his concerns in writing and assured him that his claim to his land would still be recognized.

Princillo also headed to the office of Guiuan Mayor Annaliza Kwan, who belied that the local government has jurisdiction over the entry of mining companies.

However, RA 7942 or the Mining Act of 1995 stipulates that the local government is plays an active role in the process of granting permits to mining companies and monitoring their activities.

A whole section in Department Order 96-40, the implementing rules and regulations of the revised Mining Act, has in fact been allotted to defining the role of the local government unit in mining projects.

Section 8 emphasizes that the local government unit should ensure that local communities are properly consulted before any mining company could acquire an exploration permit.

Local public officials also have the responsibility and power to demand from mining companies a comprehensive plan for the community’s development and rehabilitation, the nitty-gritty of which are laid-out in the Environmental Compliance Certificate, the Social Development and Management Plan, and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program (EPEP).

Aside from this, the local government unit is also a member of the multipartite monitoring team which keeps eye on the implementation of the projects specified in the EPEP.

But Kwan maintained that her office has no authority or participation in the approval of mining operations and told Princillo to write a letter to the DENR instead.

DAO 25

But Princillo doubted that both the CENRO and the local government would raise a finger to help him. “Even if I write a thousand letters, nothing would happen,” he said.

Canada told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak that Princillo would later join the August raid on the barracks of CMC. He set the “No Trespassing” sign which was allegedly put in his farmland, into fire.

We called up CMC to get their side, but we were told that their operations manager is still doing field work and is not available for comment. We also e-mailed questions to the CMC president, but we have not yet received any response.

Aside from mining, however, one of the potential threats to the farmers’ stewardship claim that was also raised in the documentary is the implementation of DENR Administrative Order No. 25, (DAO 25) or the “Guidelines in the Implementation of Upland Agroforestry” in 2005.

DAO 25, signed by then DENR Sec. Michael Defensor, opens around four million hectares of Philippine forest lands for the development of upland agroforestry farms and plantations.

It was concurrently signed on November 17, 2005 with DAO 24, which on the other hand, allows business enterprises to use “idle” coastal areas for fish production and other “non-extractive activities.”

Sec. 3 of DAO 25 stipulates that that the four million hectares “may” initially include 1. 9 million hectares of land covered by the Community-Based Forest Management Program (CBMFP.)

The certificate of stewardship agreement, which Princillo has, is one of the two types of land tenure instruments issued by the DENR for the use and development of forest lands covered by the CBMFP.

In 2006, local online news site Visayan Daily Star reported that Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Antonio Cabrido confirmed that 25 CBFMP agreements were cancelled in Negros Oriental as a result of the implementation of DAO 25.

However, Pastores assured Princillo that his CBFMP claim would not be cancelled because it was issued before 2005. He added, however, that those which were given out after the issuance of DAO 25 would be voided.

We called up DENR Undersecretary Eleazar Quinto and former DENR Sec. Michael Defensor to confirm this but we were not able to reach them.

as of 10/10/2008 8:13 PM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/special-report/10/10/08/mining-conflict-farmers-claim-company-seized-their-lands

Live Interview at One Morning

2008-08-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

One Morning 1/2

One Morning 2/2

This is the first time I ever appeared on National TV. Task Force Homonhon, our group which promotes anti-mining in the island of Homonhon, wanted to conduct an information campaign. We went to a series of radio guestings and to this TV interview at One Morning with Bobby Yan which is aired simultaneously in NBN4, RPN9 and IBC13. We masked our guesting here, as well as in the other radio interviews, as simply plugging the film's launch at Magnet Katipunan. But more than that, we wanted to discuss and let the audience know what is going-on in the island of Homonhon.

Homonhon Island (Guiuan, Eastern Samar)

2008-07-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

Cantilado Creek. The place where Ferdinand Magellan is said to have first landed when he circumnavigated the earth.

Saw this mural in the island's Magellan Shrine.

A ship owned by a mining company operating in the island.

Family Portrait

2008-06-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

(R-L: Nanay, Mana the eldest, Tatay, and Maymay the youngest)
Photo taken during one of my summer home visits.

Banaue, Ifugao

2007-11-25T06:11:00.000-08:00

Trailer of Tribu the Movie

2007-08-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

This is the first "real" film I acted in. It is an entry to the 3rd Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. It won Best Film, Best Actors, and Best Sound. It was also awarded Best for the Future at the Paris Cinema Festival 2008.

I performed here as a prostitute in Tondo, a drug-addict policeman's whore and the mother of a 10-year old boy who is the film's main character. (I'm the second lady having sex in the trailer.) My involvement in this film was very accidental. The real actress who was supposed to perform my role backed out on the day of the shoot. My Film classmates/friends were helping in the production and the director, Jim Libiran, happened to be a classmate in a Film course. On that same day, these classmates called me and asked if I could "go naked on a film." The actress backed out and they needed a replacement very urgently -- as in, in that very moment -- because everything has been set-up.

Knowing how frustrating and disastrous a shooting can be when actors back out right on the shooting day (especially for low-budget films) and sensing the urgency in my classmates' voice -- they called me a dozen times -- I reluctantly said yes. Anyway, simply "going naked on a film" wasn't such a big deal, I was thinking.

They sent someone to pick me up and when we arrived at the location, everything was ready. There was a big crowd watching the shoot! And they were all just waiting for me. It made me feel soo nervous I could hardly breathe. Seconds later, somebody was already putting make-up on me, while another was telling me what to do, while another was making me choose which to wear, while another was orienting me on the film's story. All these happening as I was reading the script memorizing my lines. Yes I had lines! And I had a sex scene! Only then did I realize that the role I was going to play was a major part in the film. All along I was imagining myself only passing by naked before the camera once. Things happened in a snap, I never had time to back out nor courage to disappoint everyone again. What I worried about more was if I could perform the role well. My friends later told me they felt guilty for what they did.

Anyway, so the shooting pushed through. I think I pulled it off well enough. Well, I wouldn't really know but I got a good review from a favorite Film professor:) The second shoot though was a bit of a disaster. I couldn't act how ever I tried to. They even had to make me drink a bottle of Red Horse. I felt so sorry about it.

But everything proved a worthwhile experience.

So here's how they bill the film:

"Starring real life Tondo gang members.

SYNOPSIS: The dangerous unlit streets and labyrinthine alleyways in the ghetto district of Tondo in Manila, serves as a claustrophobic backdrop to a random killing that triggers a wild and bloody gang war.Through the eyes of a 10 year old boy, we are immersed into the normal, impoverished, tough life of Tondo. Through him, we encounter the juvenile yet murderous leaders and members of various gangsta tribes -- adolescent thugs and petty criminals whose past time is sex, drugs and their eloquently poetic street rap, delivered in their own unique tongue-twisting machine gun-style.

Also starring: Jamir Garcia (of Slapshock), Ira Marasigan, Malou Crisologo, Dice & Hi C (Mobbstarrs), Loonie & Ron (Stick Figgas), God's Will, Faye Martel, Vim Nadera, Teo Antonio, Rey Guevarra Javier, Charena Escala."

Ricefields (Libmanan, Camarines Sur)

2007-05-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

These photos I took during my internship with the filmmaker Ditsi Carolino where we shot a documentary on the elections in the 2nd district of Camarines Sur.