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Describing Mt. Pinatubo Ayta’s resilience - land, family and knowledge
Cynthia Neri Zayas1
INTRODUCTION
Human dispersal due to volcanic eruption has aggravated the quest for secure land tenure
among the indigenous peoples of Mt. Pinatubo, the Ayta (Figure 1). Being semi-nomadic, they
have established village communities in a vast territorial land. One activity they seasonally
engage in is to camp in forests, meadows or places close to zones where they practice the cycle
of slash and burn agriculture, hunting and gathering activities, among others. A band of extended
families (minimum of three) comprising at least three generations of its members join the camp.
Because of this life style, their territories are often targets of land grabbing miners, ranchers and
cultivators from the lowland. The long struggle to regain their homeland began during the
Spanish colonization of the Philippines (mid-1600s to late 1800s) and ‘ended’ when Mt.
Pinatubo erupted in 1991. For instance, the volcanic eruption resulted in the abandonment of the
United States Air Force and Naval bases on the southwestern and southern slopes of Mt.
Pinatubo, respectively. This departure marked the end of more than a century of American
occupation of the Ayta homeland. These rich territories, occupied by American colonial forces,
were known to the Aytas as their ancestors’ grazing lands. In 1991, their only remaining lands
at the time of the volcanic eruption were unfortunately covered with lahar and other debris. Hata
lota ay biyay naên ‘Land is life, respect it,’ is an often repeated slogan by the Aytas in claiming
their rights to their land and their right to live as human beings (Zayas, 2012).
1
Professor Cynthia Zayas is a Professor and Director of the Center of International Studies, University of The
Philippines.
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The clamor for their land is due to the fact that the Mt Pinatubo Aytas are part and parcel
of their environment, the Pinatubo forests which ensure food security, a stable place of abode,
and a place for the myriad spirits, including Apo Namalyari, the Supreme Being, from whom
they derive their spiritual well-being. It was a complete system, hence, interactions with lowland
dwellers, including the need for its medical system, were considerably limited. But when Mt.
Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the slope dwelling peoples’ lives changed. After the eruption, the once
kaingin (periodic slash and burn) cultivators-cum-hunters and gatherers were forced to abandon
their homes, their land. They were squeezed into evacuation centers, where the situation was
very different from their life of roaming on the vast expansive slopes of Mt. Pinatubo. No one
could have anticipated the changes that the eruption would bring into the lives of these peaceful
people, who were virtually isolated from the rest of the Philippine population (Zayas, et al. 2010).
To go on living despite the loss of productive land, life and forest cover on their mountain, the
Ayta people have shown graceful adaptation by re-settling their ancestral land, re-grouping the
former members of their hamlet to form a community, and continuing to harness the fruits of the
environment through their vast knowledge of plant and animal life.
A French geographer and a Japanese anthropologist are of the opinion that Ayta
resilience is based on their communal perspective (Gaillard, 2011), flexibility and durability of
the Aeta social system (Shimizu, 1989). I look at their resilience as coming from three sources:
intimacy with the land, enduring kinship ties, and vast knowledge of their natural history, that is,
the flora and fauna. These are possible because of the uniqueness of the ecosystem and their
independence from the lowland population. These two major factors are perhaps the reasons why,
according to Gaillard, with the Ayta’s long history of coping with natural and cultural impacts of
disasters such as the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, as well as the arrival of various waves of immigrants
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and invaders, the Spaniards, Americans and Japanese, they have shown their resilience to an
extraordinary degree by being able to ‘retain specific cultural traits that still distinguish them
from the majority of the Philippine ethno-linguistic groups today’ (Gaillard, 2011: 148).
My study of the Ayta communities on Mt. Pinatubo commenced in 2009. A year later I
brought my students in my disaster mitigation classes to visit the three village communities in
Barangay Camias (population of 1,492 in 2000) and in Barangay Inararo (population of 780 in
2007)2
, and Villa Maria (population of 719 in 2007). All of these communities are in Porac,
Pampanga (Ragragio, Zayas, Obico, 2013). The Ayta from Villa Maria and Inararo speak the
Mag-anchi dialect, while those from Camias speak the Mag-indi dialect. Among these three
barangays, according to my research, Inararo has the least inter-marriage with lowlanders. The
most mixed barangay is Villa Maria. In fact, as of 2013, its present Barangay captain (chief of
the village) is half lowlander - half Ayta. Whenever I had long vacations, I went to stay for 3-5
days observing and doing key informant interviews. The data presented in this report is based on
these interactions. One of the things I asked my students to do was to undertake a basic
household survey where I often incorporated the listing of plants and animals found in the
vicinity of their houses. From these tabulations, I learned that both food and medicinal plants are
planted side by side. To compliment these listings, I cross-checked them with two sets of lists of
trees: (1) a wish list of trees to be used for reforestation and (2) a list of tree names obtained from
an Ayta-Mag-antsi dictionary. When I was first introduced to Roman King3
in 2009, one of the
projects he asked me to do was to assist his group in the reforestation of Mt. Pinatubo. Together
with other non-governmental organizations (NGO) and volunteers, we were able to obtain a list
2
Population data were obtained from the Barangay Captains (hamlet chief) of Barangay Camias and Inararo.
3
Roman King is the son of Miranda King, the traditional leader of a hamlet or barangay called Inararo. He comes
from a family with long history of leadership among the PoracPampanga Ayta communities. At the time we met he
was the Barangya Captain of the new Barangay Inararo.
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of trees they wanted to be planted in the forest. My students and I enriched this wish list by
putting other known names of the said trees, and their uses. Initially, I did informant work to
obtain the uses of these trees, but later asked the help of an Ayta assistant, Norman King4
, to
continue it. Interviews were tape recorded and filmed with the consent of the informants. The
data grew as my colleague, Elena Mencias-Ragragio of University of the Philippines, Manila,
brought along her students in ethnobotany to join me and my students on several occasions in
Barangay Camias, Barangay Inararo, and Barangay Villa Maria. Furthermore, on several
occasions I would also interview the Ayta from Inararo whom I asked to fix my garden and
repair the grass roof of my Mayawyaw traditional house.
As we have written elsewhere, the Pinatubo Ayta have been dependent on the forests for
generations. The forests have served as their market, pharmacy, hardware store and ritual areas
(Ragragio, Zayas, & Obico, 2013). This chapter is about the sources of Ayta resilience. I will
argue that there are three important ideas that define this quality as the Ayta face, for instance,
natural disasters, such as the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. These are: (1) deep intimacy with
the land, (2) enduring kinship ties, and (3) local knowledge.
LAND, FAMILY AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Land, family and local knowledge are inter-related ideas. When I speak of the land, I
refer to the forest, the mountain, the villages where the life of the Ayta people is sustained. By
family, I mean the deep kinship relations that span many generations as they move about through
various ecological zones of the mountains before returning to their home place, and then
continue to relate to one another through wife exchanges and extended family networks. This is
4
Norman King is the eldest son of Roman. He is one of the few Ayta who could attend the university. Presently he
is studying behavior science at the University of the Philippines in Manila.
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especially so when kinship ties require the assistance of all members of the family in paying for
the bride price. I shall not touch go into this topic at length here as a Japanese anthropologist has
already described this aspect in his book (Shimizu, 1989). Finally, the expanse of the local
knowledge among the Ayta perhaps sustained them through thousands of years.This knowledge
is rooted in reverence for the “original owner” of the land and respect for the sources of
subsistence by taking only what is needed.
Deep intimacy with the land
Among the more than 100 ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines, the Ayta peoples are
considered to be the aborigines of the Philippine Archipelago. As I have stated earlier, despite
their long engagement with outsiders (that is, those outside of Mt. Pinatubo), they have retained
the unique features of their culture. If indeed they are the original peoples of the islands, the idea
of the founder’s cult is evidence of their attachment to the land of Apo Namalyari, its tributary
god, where annual rites of thanksgiving, among others, are held after a great harvest of the soil.
The founder’s cult refers to a ‘set of practices and beliefs which arise from the "contract"
between the original founder(s) of a settlement and the spirit owners/occupiers of a given
territory.’ (Lehman, 2003:15-16) The ‘agreement’ is concretized in an annual ritual of food
offerings and prayers, and, in return, the land will be fertile and bring about bountiful harvests in
the next season. This, I believe, is the basis of the people’s deep intimacy with their homeland.
A chronicle of such relations is found in the 1680 entry by Fray Domingo Perez,
The idol whom this bayoc principally offers sacrifice is called Malyari, which
means “powerful”. This idol is made with a wooden head and its body and hands
of straw. They dress it up like an image after their manner, place it on its altar
and niche, then light for it torches of pitch for lack of wax candles. All the people
of the rancheria assemble to make sacrifice. Having built his altar, the bayoc takes
his spear in his hand and makes three holes in the earth with it. Those holes are
filled with wine, and the spear having been thrust into the ground, the bayoc
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begins his sacrifice, with a leaf of wild anahao or wild palm in his hand (Perez,
Domingo, 1903-1909:298-307 ).
The bayoc referred to in the 1689 document of Fray Domingo Perez reappears in the lives of the
Aytas as the manganito of the present. The Manganito is a person endowed with super natural
power who can heal, communicate with Apo Namalyari and can intercede to the god on behalf of
the Ayta. In a way he or she is the one who integrates the Ayta to the community, and his/her
natural environment- kaingin and forest (Figure 2).
In Porac, Pampanga, the Ayta are settled in five barangays: Inararo, Sapang Uwak, Villa
Maria, Diaz and Camias, and Sitio Pasbul (part of Barangay Camias). About 18,700 hectares of
prime land cover their claim of ancestral domain. As they are slash-and-burn cultivators, hunters
and gatherers during the pre-Mt. Pinatubo eruption period, their subsistence activities are
essentially anchored on these territories. Common to all these villages is their reverence for the
Apo Namalyari. Based on the accounts of Fr. Domingo Perez above, clearly Namalyari was a rite
officiated by a native priest to communicate with Malyari. The message is transmitted via the
three holes made by the spear and filled with wine, and so on. Boring a hole is not a sacrilege per
se when the object is to offer thanks to Malyari. However, drilling with the objective of utilizing
steam underneath the earth in a destructive way is a violation, an injurious treatment of the
sacred earth/mountain.
Mt. Pinatubo, dwelling place of Apo Namalyari and where the souls of the dead Ayta go,
plays a central role in the world view of these people. Seitz (1998: 76-90) once more highlights
the peoples’ resilience anchored in their belief in the founder of the land:
Today the Aeta on the north-western side of Mt Pinatubo in the hinterland
of Botolan live with the autochtonous Sambal people. On the south-
western side of the volcano in the uplands behind San Marcelino, they live
together with the Ilocanos, who first migrated here in the nineteenth
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century. All the Aeta on Mt Pinatubo speak the same language (Botolan
Sambal) even those on the eastern side of the volcano in Tarlac and
Pampanga provinces, who live with the Pampaguenos, and those in Bataan.
Because of the geographic separation of their home area, the Aeta
remained economically largely autarkic and culturally independent up
until the eruption. Their independence made them especially well able to
cope in times of emergency and natural disasters (italics mine).
As mentioned earlier, the barangay (village) of Camias in the town of Porac Pampanga
had a population of 1,492 in 2000. The original settlers comprise about 90 percent of this
population. In the hope of contributing to the reforestation project, we undertook a survey of
Tibungbung, a hill of about 20 hectares in area. After delineating ownerships and relationships
of owners, we found out that Tibungbung is owned by two clans: the Saplala and the Abuque kin
groups. The clan names have a story relating to the obligation of preserving the place. According
to the village chief, the word abuque is derived from the word abukay which means civet cat in
archaic Ayta language. Presently, the term used is alamidi5
in the Ayta Mag-indi dialect. To the
Aytas, being a fruit eating animal, the civet cat is an important forest fauna for it scatters seeds,
that is, zoochrony. Because of this diet, they can only survive in the forest. On the other hand,
the term saplala meant a bodily gesture of offering to Apo Namalyari who dwells on the top of
Mt. Pinatubo. According to their belief, their ancestors gave their clan names so that the Ayta
will not forget or ever leave the forest. Abuque from abukay, the civet cat’s name, was chosen
because the cat can only survive in the forest and thus will never leave it. While Saplala ‘to
offer’, was chosen as a name to remind the Ayta that when they harvest from the land, they
should not forget to thank Apo Namalyari, the creator of all things. From this story we are able to
realize the significance of why the principal families of Camias offered this particular property
for reforestation. It has both strategic and symbolic meaning. Strategic, because it borders the
5
In lowland Kapampangan langauge, the term is alamid and in Tagalog speaking people of Central Luzon, musang.
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mining company’s claim for utilization which the Aytas protested, and symbolic, because it
defines Ayta identity and community. This perhaps is one of the many reasons of the Aytas’
deep intimacy with nature. One clan symbolizes what the civet cat does to the forest, a lifetime
commitment to the land; while the other clan symbolizes perpetual tribute of thanks to the
creator of things, Apo Namalyari. Indeed this is a beautiful way to remind them of who they are
and what their obligations are to the land and the community (Figures 3). Related to the
meanings attributed to the symbol of the clan’s name is the closeness of the social relations
among households within each village as shown in the villagers’ response to post-Pinatubo
resettlement formation (see Figure 4).
Enduring kinship ties
In the original hamlet of Inararo, there were three dominant clans: the Kings, the Pans
and the Davids. Around the early 1990s, there were 500 households in the hamlet, 50 of which
were coffee planters from Cavite who leased a portion of the arable land which was planted to
coconut, avocado, varieties of banana (latundan and saba), as well as taro. The life in the hamlet
was easy. The Ayta sold bikal at one peso a piece. This is a a kind of bamboo used for flower
arrangements for the lowland market. The Ayta also gathered rattan which they sold at fifty
pesos each. There were orchids too. However, they also sold their cash crops of gabi, banana
fruits and flowers. Strategically located right at the top of Clark Air Base, marketing Inararo
produce
Figure 1. The relationships of the first group of settlers in the new Barangay Inararo6
6
All figures are in a seperate pages
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During the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruptions, many of these households were dispersed to
various evacuation centers in Angeles City, in San Fernando, in such places as Barangay Sapa,
Barangay San Matias, Magalang, and in Duig in Tarlac, as well as in Fort Magsaysay in the
neighboring province of Nueva Ecija, among others. Many years later, those from Sapang Uwak,
Villa Maria in Pampanga, and Banban, Tarlac, returned to their original settlements, while others
opted to remain and stay on the hillsides of Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. As the orginal
Inararo was still unhabitable due to the great deposits of lahar, the King clan decided to resettle
together in a property below Villa Maria7
and invited many of their relatives from the original
settlements. Here it will show that most of the households that joined them were somehow or
other related to a traditional leader, the Kings. According to Junyor King, one of the sons of the
leader and my informant, besides his whole family of five siblings and four in-law households,
seven households on his mother side, seven households on his father’s side, joined them in the
new Barangay Inararo. Below is an initial composition of the village of new barangay Inararo
(Figure 5).
Local knowledge
As used by disaster risk reduction or mitigation (DRRM) practioners, local knowledge
means knowledge other than western scientific thought. When used as one essential component
of DRRM, local knoweldge implies knowledge that one needs to know in order to understand
how the client, the local people, think about the world, the environment, the cosmos, among
others. However, I may be wrong about my impressions, but let me clarify why I have
incorporated the notion of local knowledge. I utilize common people’s understanding of the
7
Junyor King informed me that Barangay Inararo will disappear if they do not group together in a new resettlement
site. At the time of the formation of the New Inararo, the old hamlet Inararo could not be settled. It should be
noted that in Japan when communities are temporarily resettled due to volcanic eruptions, tsunami, nuclear leaks,
among other disasters, the local village or municipal officials made it a point to link with its inhabitants. The
function of the local government was still enforced.
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world and their environment because of my anti-anthropocentric perspective in social research. I
am therefore an advocate for the post-humanist approaches to pay attention to non-human
entities’ role in what is there in the senses, persons, worlds, and other things that constitute part
of human existence. For instance, when asked which trees are to be used for reforestation, a
ficus nuda (baleti in the local language) is preferred over others by Aytas even if the fruits are
not eaten by humans. It is preferred because bats and birds come and feast on them. In return,
Aytas could have the chance of hunting and catching them as these animals are delicacies in the
mountain. It should be noted that scientists or outsiders’ knowledge can never approximate the
indigenous knowledge of the Ayta who have a deeper understanding of the interactions of plants,
animals, water, and soil. Ecological knowledge is localized, practical and historically bound.8
After all, understanding local knowledge is not the end in itself. Most practitioners of DRRM see
it as a door for the local people’s participation in disaster management and preparedness
activities. Through it, we can have productive conversations with them. I will discuss and
describe three examples: knowledge of useful plants, where they should be planted, and how to
navigate the forest.
A survey of useful food and medicinal plants was conducted among the Ayta from three
barangays of Porac, Pampanga. Twenty years after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, the Ayta of
Porac have experienced extensive changes in their lives, culture and society. In the survey, 83
plants were used as food and 167 plants used as medicine. The largest number of species are
classified under the Fabaceae family. The food and medicinal plants used by the Ayta
communities declined in number as compared to Fox’s study in 1952. A contributing factor to
the decline may have been the dislocation of the communities and the loss of the forest after the
8
Personal communication with Prof. E. Mencias-Ragrario.
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eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Likewise, acculturation and integration into prevailing society has
affected the lives of the Ayta, ‘but their botanical knowledge remains an important part of their
culture.’ (Ragragio, Zayas, & Obico: 2013)
Judging from the information we gathered, the Aytas have allocated certain places in
their territories for plants. In the gubat (forest), they plant trees that attract animals that are also
coveted as delicacies and sources of protein for their diet. In the surroundings, the paligid,
located close to the hamlets, are useful plants for immediate needs such as medicinal purposes as
well as food sources. Finally, from their kaingin (clearings), they take staple food, cash crops and
also some secret medicinal species of traditional healers. Three types of basic knowledge gained
are: (1) never leave land uncultivated for a long time; (2) plant trees that bear fruits which attract
protein rich animals; and (3) plant useful plants for healing close by in the village. When we read
such conlusions, we may think isn’t it obvious? But the reasons aren’t the same as ours for we
have to take into consideration the topography of their habitation sites and day-to-day activities.
In the 1970s at the height of the Vietnam War, the American naval and air bases in the
Philippines were the centers of the American campaign against communist North Vietnam. In
order that American ground troops could survive the tropical jungles of Vietnam, the Aytas of
Pinatubo were used as instructors for jungle survival. The Ayta’s deep knowledge of the forest
were taught to the temperate-climate living American soldiers. My informant, Roman King,
whose father taught the soldiers, shared some of the skills imparted to the American combatants,
as follows:
Ayta use bird calls to mark the time of day. They believe that birds make sounds to tell
one another of their location/direction. This is called pagaw. They also associate two
meanings to the early morning calls/sounds of birds: first, it signals the start of the day;
second, it's an expression of gratitude that the sun rises once more. Old people associate
the sound of taho, a small green bird with a large beak, as the dawning of the day.
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When one is lost in the forest, he merely does tikapen, i.e. climb the tallest tree nearby to
determine physical orientation. When loosing other members of the party on a trail, one
leaves behind a sign. The most useful sign used by a fellow Ayta is the placing of a mark
that doesn't need to be cut with a sharp tool. For example, if one passes this or that way,
s/he would place something … a stick broken off from a branch, and the position of the
broken tip of the stick would indicate the direction taken by the person. To prevent a
fellow Ayta from falling into a tarun, a deadly trap for wild boars, they place markers
made of sticks to indicate danger, as if saying that here in this place, if there are sticks
with pointed ends crossed, this means there is a trap inside. It could mean danger. Don't
enter. If one finds an unclaimed beehive on a tree, one studies the usual route taken by
others. It is there where they will place a sign. So if one sees a beehive, and there is
already a sign, don't take it anymore because that will be considered as stealing.
Of mountains and spirits
Mountains in this part of Asia are endowed with spirituality. Our ancestors believed that
when we die, our souls travel to the summits of high mountains close to where we once lived.
The spirit that dwells in these volcanic mountains is referred to as Apo or Mbah, both meaning
grandparent or ancestor in Filipino and Javanese, respectively. The terms are affixed to their
names for they are endowed with spiritual power. Mbah Merapi is derived from embah or mbah,
the Javanese word for grandfather simbah. Mbah Maridjan, the gate keeper (juricunci) of Mt.
Merapi, is another example. Apo Namalyari, grandparent who makes things possible, is the
spirit dweller of Mt.Pinatubo. Apo, a term of reverence, is also used to mean ancestor. When one
passes through an unknown place for the first time, he/she murmurs: Tabi-tabi Apo ‘Let me pass,
Apo’. The all-knowing powerful spirits dwell in the mountain to protect its inhabitants and give
them blessings with the fertility of its land and abundance of its water sources besides providing
them with bio-diversified flora and fauna, and civilization. Inhabitants who disobey traditions
are punished. In 2010 Mt. Merapi was said to have ‘coughed’ because of Javanese politicians’
corruption. Meanwhile, Mt. Pinatubo went berserk (nag-alburoto) and erupted because the
Philippine National Oil Company bored holes for geothermal power development. The
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indigenous Ayta, who inhabit the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo, believed that it was forbidden to bore
holes, for it will awaken the sleeping volcano. With these ‘believe it or not’ stories, who took the
Javanese and the Ayta seriously?
CONCLUSION
What I have written may appear real to others, but mere representations to some. My
message is, let us give them a second ear and listen this time. In the final analysis, in considering
their views, we and they undergo the process of understanding each other’s points of view.
Finally, what makes a people resilient to natural disasters such as the Mt. Pinatubo
eruption of 1991, I believe, is the Ayta’s attachment to a place. It is strenghened by their deep
knowledge of every nook and cranny there are in the mountain, every thing that grows in it and
most of all, the very relations that bind the community together as manifested by their kinship
ties, both ceremonial and blood. Perhaps after learning these three points, we may reconcile why
informal settlers in the city refuse to leave their shacks despite the threats of floods, landslides,
and earthquakes. There isn’t really any other place to live in, nor people to link with. Most of all,
their possesion of accumulated knowledge of the urban jungle feeds them with all the garbage of
city dwellers and sustains their existence.
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References
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islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in
contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious
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nineteenth century. 1911. E. H. Blair and J. A. Robertson, edited and annotated with historical
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Publishing Company [Vol. 47], pp 300-301. Also in
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Fox, R.B. (1952) ‘The Pinatubo Negritos: Their Useful Plants and Material Culture,’ Philippine
Journal of Science 81(3-4):173-414.
Lehman, F. K. (2003) ‘The relevance of founders’ cults to understanding the political systems of
the peoples of northern Southeast Asia and its Chinese borderlands.” in Founders’ Cults in
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(eds.). (Yale Monograph No. 52).
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Communities from Porac, Pampanga, Twenty Years after the Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo,’
Philippine Journal of Science, 142: 167-181. Special Issue.
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the Philippine context. Pampanga: Center for Kapampangan Studies.
Seitz , S. (1998) Coping Strategies in an Ethnic Minority Group: The Aeta of Mount Pinatubo.
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Stork, K. and M. Stork, (2005) Ayta Mag-antsi – English Dictionary, Manila: Summer Institute
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Figure 1. Mt. Pinatubo and its environ.
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Figure 2. The world of the Ayta
Figure 3. The civet cat and the clan
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Figure 4. The two clans and the dividd forest teritory
Figure 5. The relationships of the first group of settlers in the new Barangay Inararo. The ego
Junyor King’s (3) nearest of kin totalled 6 households (1, 2, 4, 5, 22). Junyor wife’s family
totalled two households (11, 22). His brother-in-law’s brotheris one household (6). Junyor’s
mother’s relative had 4 hoiuseholds (12, 13, 10, 6). On Junyor’s father side were 11
bhouseholds (24, 23, 25,15, 14, 9, 18, 17, 16, 20, 19).
