Kulaman: Coffee Dreams and Conversations

The sun slowly sets, hues of red, yellow and orange awash the skies. Dense fogs started to arise, signalling a very cold night. Complete darkness engulfs the village, with only makeshift light from the empty bottle of Tanduay with a gasoline, and used clothing wrapped with tin foil from the cigarette pack to light the house.

He sat down. He wrapped the betel nut in its leaves with lime and chews it. He sighed deep, spit and murmured a prayer for the forest spirits. This is Datu Apon Sakon, the chieftain of the village.

He doesn’t know how old he is now. He witnessed several moon cycles and changing paradigm of land ownership: from the land of abundance to proving ownership by merely showing a piece of paper.

“We want Recognition and Respect." Their fathers and forebears lived with the forest and the surrounding land. They were told that they should leave; they are illegal occupants as they could not show the authorities land titles. “But how can you own the land when the Magbabaya (Supreme Being) and the spirits gave it to us to just use but never own? The land can even outlive us. There is no sense of owning it. We will return to the land as dust.”

All living within the territory is a family. After the WWII, migrants were allowed to enter and settle on their area. Slowly, they're forced into the hinterland. Realizing, they have nothing to give to their own children, they have to act. One strategy that aided them in their quest in safeguarding their lands is by establishing coffee orchards in the entry points of their ancestral domain.

The local government of Kulaman is now tapping coffee as its primary product to be promoted. Datu Apon hopes this will be their chance to be recognized. A balance of economic, political and cultural spaces in order for the Manobo Dulangans to truly say they are empowered.

“We survived. We will still. Together, ” Datu Apon declared.

Mefiyon fedu. There is hope.