Education Is Key To Survival Of Ethnic People In Bulacan

MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan province (Dino Balabo / 06 Jun) If the watershed area of Bulacan and the indigenous peoples that lives in it is to survive, then education is the key, according to a group of educators working with the ethnic Dumagat tribe.

Arlene Lazaro, assigned with the Department of Education (DepEd) Bulacan Division Office on the mountain town of Donya Remedios Trinidad, said they have been teaching Dumagat tribesmen the past 10 years now and all these for the welfare of the ethnic tribe.

“We are about to lose hope until we realized that by educating the Dumagat tribesmen, they can become the vanguard of the forest lands in the province,” she said.

In 1996, Lazaro joined the Indigenous Peoples Apostolate (IPA), a Catholic mission as a volunteer. Their work paid off two years later after convincing the provincial government and the DepEd to open Non-Formal Education to the Dumagat people under the so-called Alternative Learning System (ALS).

Jun Carpio, DepEd Bulacan Supervisor on Alternative Learning System, said that initially, 10 young male educators were sent to 10 Dumagat settlements in the hinterlands of the Donya Remedios Trinidad and Norzagaray town.

Few years later, some of the male teachers gave up their work for various reasons, from being suspected as a government spy by communist rebels and as an “infiltrator” by government troopers in the area.

The shortage of educators opened the way for Lazaro to work to help the tribesmen. She first taught multi-grade classes in Sitio Dike at Hilltop village in Norzagaray town. Now, she is one of the longest serving teachers to the Dumagat people in Bulacan.

“Education is the only hope of our Dumagat people, aside from the watershed they are now protecting,” she said.

Bro. Martin Francisco, of the Lake Galilee of the Katribo Foundation, a non-governmental organization, said young Dumagat tribesmen today have been lured by timber cutters illegal loggers inside the 63,000-ha. Angat water shed.

“Marami sa kanila lalo na ang mga mestizong katutubo ang nagiging aryador o taga-hakot ng mga punong pinutol ng mga timber poachers,” Francisco said.

He said to prevent Dumagat people from being exploited or engage in illegal activities is to educate them. “So far, we now can see signs of changes among the young Dumagat tribemen. “Napapansin na rin ng mga magulang nila na nagbabago sila, kasi kahit 12 anyos pa lang ang mga iyan ay mga siga na sa kabundukan at hindi malayong maging mga timber poacher din pag dating ng panahon lalo na kung wala silang edukasyon,” Francisco said.