HAPAO, Ifugao—There is a story that haunts the tranquil village of Hapao in Ifugao, especially among menfolk who have to venture into the forests to cut trees for various needs. It happened some five decades ago, but the elders continue to retell the story to remind the village of the time when nature spirits were strong in the people’s beliefs.

The story goes that Bongyo, with a group of men, went to the forest of Dogwe to cut a tree. When they reached camp, Bongyo decided to move higher ahead of the others in search of a tree to cut.

Unfortunately, he had chili in his meat, which angered the spirits.

The angered spirits took away Bongyo’s soul. He fell ill but managed to drag himself to the camp where he died.

His companions claimed to have heard strange howls, which got fainter until it was gone, later believed to have been Bongyo’s soul struggling away from the spirits.

In the silence of the night, one of the men dreamt Bongyo was dragged and tortured by the spirits because chili had burned their tongues.

When daybreak came, Bongyo was found dead near the camp.

Respect for trees, forest through taboos

Life in indigenous villages, as it is with Hapao, is steeped in taboos, spiritual beliefs and superstitions, to which adherence is reinforced by incidents as what befell Bongyo.

Nature spirits are believed to reign in the forests and great care is taken not to displease them, as they can cast spells and cause illnesses when harmed, or give blessings when pleased.

In Ifugao, respect for the trees and the forest are expressed in the observance of taboos. It is believed that spirits are offended by boisterous sounds and are inclined to cast a spell on those who break the silence in the forest.

So does litter disturb the spirits. Stones may not be thrown on the ground or any disturbance done without asking permission from the spirits, lest they are harmed.

Care must be taken that offerings are not mixed with strong spices, which the spirits despise, although salt is favored because they do not have this in their realm.

IPs’ spiritual reverence helps conserve biodiversity

Science may not see forest protection in the light of the magical elements that dominate the worldview of indigenous peoples (IPs). But it cannot be denied that the spiritual reverence IPs have for their forests have kept their biodiversity thriving for millennia, and deterioration occurring when they are weaned from old traditions and seduced by modern ways of exploiting the forest.

In an immersion and study done in Hapao by the Sunflower Collective, a loose grouping of artists, writers and environmentalists in the Cordillera Administrative Region, they found that many forest practices translated to sound scientific rationale have evolved from a purely spiritual place.

Filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik, head of Sunflower Collective, said, “When as children they are taught to ask permission from the spirit dwelling in a tree whenever they pass by it, there is a conditioning made that trees must be respected.”

Some beliefs have also helped conserve hardwood species that grow slowly in the area, such as the balete tree, believed to be home of spirits. Another one is not using trees that shed leaves seasonally, such as narra, for house construction as luck also falls with the leaves.

The “idoh” bird is viewed as a bad omen, thus woodcutting is postponed if one sees the bird. Also, trees near places believed to be home of spirits like rivers, caves or boulders are not cut for fear of harming the spirits. A ritual is performed as a way of asking permission before a tree is cut.

Nature for generations to come

The ancestors of the Ifugao have ingrained in them the value that unity and cooperation is the key to survival. Their first ancestors had to tame a harsh environment. They carved steep mountains into the graceful rice terraces that are now world-renowned for their magnificence.

Atop a cluster of rice terraces, the Ifugao built forests called pinugus with the knowledge that from a biodiversity of trees, springs will gush forth and through the principle of gravity water would drip down to the lowest terrace through an ingenious engineering design.

The Ifugao’s life cycle is marked with rituals from the womb to life beyond the grave. These rituals are marked with the drinking of baya (rice wine), incantations and sacrificial animals. The Ifugaos’ compulsive need to please the spirits through their rituals has sustained a way of life supportive of the complex maintenance of the interrelationhip of their pinugu and their rice terraces. Thus, the need to continually produce rice wine and offer grains to the spirits for bountiful harvests in order that they may survive.

Without these forests, there would be no irrigation, no agriculture and the survival of their tribe would not have been possible. It was dictated that they had to live as one with a collective duty to care for their  pinugus.

For the Ifugaos, land passed down generations is but a fleeting occupancy compared with the centuries they have withstood time, and ownership is more in the nature of trust—where the land must be protected for coming generations.

The pinugu is a private forest but ownership still follows unwritten customary laws to ensure water availability to the rice terraces. While without records, the community honors patterns of ownership. These pinugus are inherited from the father’s line by the eldest child, regardless of sex, and passed down generations. If the mother owns one, this goes to the second child so the terraces and its pinugu stay in the same inheritance line. Cutting of trees must be done only with permission from the pinugu owner.

The authority vested and respect due to the eldest child, in ancestral belief, was to ensure the sustainability of the ratio of gathering and replacement of trees.

Protection and preservation of the pinugu is a clan duty. For pruning, underbrushing the forests, the clan members are granted the privilege of cutting a tree for specific purposes.

Vanishing traditions

But like any other indigenous culture, the Ifugaos were not isolated from the outside world. Let us take Hapao, the origin of woodcarving, which spread to other villages as it became a fast-moving item in the world market. Soon woodcarvings were part of the global economy.  This started the changing of values—the biggest threat to the pinugus and the rice terraces.

Franciso Bibal, a forester and member of the Sunflower  Collective, in his report wrote, “The ancient culture-driven skill of woodcarvers has taken on a purely commercial function.”

The need for wood to carve has made woodcarvers venture into the pinugus with their chainsaws.

A mumbaki (village priest and shaman) expressed his fear: “The spirits are leaving the forests because the silence of their home has been pierced by greed.”

The Ifugaos are now caught in a curious situation. While old taboos and spiritual beliefs remain in their psyche, many have become Christian converts. And some say this has freed them from the powers of the spirit. Trapped in a cash economy, the mindset for individual profits conflicts with the old communal values.

Theft of trees for woodcarving has become rampant with old people too feeble to watch over their pinugus as able-bodied clan members went off to areas closer to woodcarving markets. Or many young people get jobs outside to earn cash. There is also lack of underbrushing and pruning in the pinugus that have increased the spread of wildfires.

The Unesco has declared the Hungduan Rice Terraces (which includes Hapao), one of the five clusters of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, as a World Heritage Site. But in 1999, the terraces were declared as the most Endangered World Heritage Site and will be in a state of such deterioration 10 years hence if nothing is done now.

Saving the forests and rice terraces must come from within

Measures to save the pinugus and the Ifugao Rice Terraces are through outside interventions now, such as packaging their heirloom rice varieties for export for premium prices, or paid labor for men to repair collapsed stonewalls.

Nothing seems to be working well enough, environmentalists say. The rice terraces and the pinugus were preserved spanning 2 millennia because of the values of the people and work that came from the heart, observed the Sunflower Collective.

In an ongoing endeavor, the Sunflower Collective has put the user-friendly video cameras in the hands of the locals so that they may preserve their own culture and the wisdom of the elder mumbakis.

The video films are closer to the oral tradition of the Hapao tribe. This way, the memory of their ancient culture will be known to the coming generations.

“They may no longer fear the spirits, but the images can instill pride in the great engineers and architects of the world who were their very own ancestors,” Kidlat Tahimik said.

For this alone, the desire that comes from the heart to preserve their heritage pinugus and rice terraces may be the answer to saving the forests, he added.