by Alex Roldan
It was supposed to be a wonderful sight to see our Lumad brothers and sisters coming to urban places to be with the people during Christmas. But we should understand the fact that they flock to the cities because experience had taught them that during this time of the year, people in centers tend to share some of their their blessing with others. Meaning, they come down here because people are more willing at this time of year to give them something—money, food, hand-me-downs (used clothes).
But on the other hand, it makes one wonder, what would be the effect of this practice to the Lumad culture and traditions? Evidence is mounting that the new generation of Lumads prefer to live in urban places and a good number have done so for good.
Basically, I am not against Lumads coming to population centers every Christmas, or those deciding to settle in cities for good or even share our blessings and show that we do care. But I am worried about implications of this to their families and to our society as whole.
What is really obvious, for example in Davao City, is the commercialization of the Lumad culture integrated in our business development plans. It is the major feature of the city’s identity. Taking advantage of the Lumads, their colorful culture and their other resources as part of the strategy in improving the business climate, may be effective, but then again, at what cost to them and to their next generation, and most of all the identity of the city?
Anthropologists cannot argue the fact cultures need time to evolve at their own pace otherwise it will just bring more suffering than good to the affected group. I will give you a good example of our experience in the past that made me realize that good intentions are not enough to alleviate conditions of the people we intend to help.
Years ago, HALAD Foundation, now defunct, was helping the Lumads who fled from the fighting between government forces and communist insurgents. HALAD, together with other non-government and government organizations, fed them with bread, biscuits, rice and canned goods in the refugee centers. All went well until the amount of assistance began dwindling when “donor fatigue” set in.
We learned later that they had difficulty readjusting to their former lifestyle. For one, the children started to shun eating camote and insisting to have bread instead. Many started to loathe their former condition, their way of living and longing for a life as lived by people in the urban centers, having learned that working for somebody else means earning money with which to buy what the family needs.
When I was working with a radio station, I noticed that each afternoon Lumads from all over the region would come to the station for the panawagan portion where they would call their relatives back in the hinterlands to inform them that they (callers) had arrived safely in the city and would begin looking for a job or had found one. Many would even boast that they had they found work which paid them P1,500 a month. The reasons for leaving home were alike—widespread poverty. It was alarming as their number was growing by the day and they were getting younger! Worse, from time to time I recognized some of them being shown on tv news after having been arrested by police for misdemeanors.
Poverty is subjective. But we tend to teach them our own concept of what being “poor” means. That if you do not earn enough to satisfy all your needs you are poor. To the Lumad, the urban centers are the answer to their search for a better life.
Every Christmas season our city government goes out of its way to make the Lumads’ stay in the city as comfortable as conditions will allow. From providing rice and some canned goods years back, now they are even provided with packed meals on occasion and are entertained with shows and concerts! If some of them fall ill because of eating spoiled food, authorities attribute it to the Lumads’ lack of knowledge on how to keep certain foods from getting spoiled.
Our way of treating them for whatever reason should be reviewed. There has to be some improvement somewhere. I wonder what the academe is doing about it? Those studying anthropology, sociology and development should be able to come up with solutions to the problem. I know that there are already studies made on such situations.
Christmas is a very special season to us Christians. Spreading love during the season is nice, but like the lyrics of a popular song that says “too much love will kill you” it must be exercised with care. We should help our Lumads nurture their culture, their traditions, and most of all—give them the capacity to decide what is right for them. That means, give them education. Has anybody thought of that?
For comments, e-mail to: roldanalex@yahoo.com
