______________

For comments and suggestions:

Email us at feedback@insidemindanao.com

or send us a message thru our MESSAGE TO THE EDITOR portion on our homepage

______________

First Posted on Inside Mindanao: October 8, 2006

Tribes Lament Forest Destruction
By Ellen Red

LANUZA, SURIGAO DEL SUR-For the Manobo and Mamanwa tribes in this town, the forest used to be their pharmacy, fishing ground, and hunting area.

Since time immemorial, medicines for different kinds of illnesses can be found at the trees, the biyagon or vines in the forest, Datu Rostico Bulando told Inside Mindanao.

Datu Bulando is the baylan or medicine man of the Manobo and Mamanwa in sitio Ibuan, barangay Mampi, Lanuza.

Today, the medicine man of the Manobo and Mamanwa in Ibuan said the medicines in the forests are slowly disappearing due to the logging activities of Surigao Development Corporation (SUDECOR).

"Biyagon (vines) have been cut. Trees have been cut," Datu Bulando said in his dialect.

Thelma Salazar, tribal secretary in Ibuan, said in her dialect, "Since the arrival of the company (SUDECOR), the rivers and creeks have been silted. Slowly, the fish such as tilapia on the rivers and creeks have been disappearing."

Datu Manuel Gardigo, who also lives in Ibuan, said that the practice of SUDECOR in transporting their cut logs at the river brings forth destruction to the river. Datu Gardigo is the vice-chairperson of the indigenous cultural communities called KALASAG, composed of Manobo and Mamanwa.

Romanito Badiang, councilor of barangay Mampi, said in his dialect, "(Logging activities of SUDECOR) brought forth crisis to our livelihood because we depend so much on our natural resources."

NEXT PAGE