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

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)

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)

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

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.