Entry for Day1: 21 November 2009, Saturday
The Cordillera Youth Training on Digital Social Networking opened today with 45 participants from the different faculties of the 2 campuses of the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (Bontoc and Tadian), from the offices of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines and the Vicariate of Bontoc Lagawe of the Roman Catholic Church, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance Mountain Province Chapter, the League of Progressive Students of MPSPC, Ap-apaway (Bontoc campus student paper), Northern Sagada Students Organisation, Mountain Province Youth Alliance, Begnas (organisation of students from Bauko town), Natonin-Paracelis Student Organisation. The other students come from the following Departments: Information and Technology, Office Administration, Business Administration, Criminology, Education, Agriculture, Engineering, among others. The day was spent in getting to know each other and being introduced to the different concepts related to digital social networking and leveling off on these concepts, and giving actual examples of these. The training will last until November 30th. For today, the venue of the sessions are at the library and focused on getting to know the participants and introduction on social digital networking, open-source networks and participatory media. The president of the College, Ms. Nieves A. Dacyon, gave the challenge of making this training contribute to making the college a relevant stakeholder in the province through the use of digital social networking as a tool to inform, share and collaborate.
Day 2: 22 November 2009, Sunday
It is a beautiful day in Bontoc today - clear skies and temperate weather. Some participants were early but we started about 30 minutes late because we had to re-arrange the set-up of the room. As a follow-up to the 1st day's input and as a preparation to the afternoon session, indigenous principles were discussed with a sharing from the FWII of the 16 Principles of the Medicine Wheel which resonates with most of the Igorot indigenous values, principles and practices. For instance, "Working in a circle" states that 'everything is connected to everything else' is a wholistic/comprehensive approach to transforming our lives, our communities and is a familiar principle used in community organising. The political, social,economic, spiritual and emotional aspects must be all addressed in order to bring about lasting change.
The rest of the day was spend in developing the digital platform for each group using Ning. Email addresses were created for those who do not have by buddying with those who already have their accounts. This included YouTube accounts. After that, everybody was intensely focused on their screens as they created their own sites, 6 of them. See some of the pictures in our photo section.
Day 3: 23 November 2009, Monday
We are now in Kayan East, Tadian municipality, about 1-1/2 hours ride by car away from Bontoc. We have been graciously invited and hosted by Ms. Dacyon. We are here to follow-up on our Tadian campus participants, 11 of them. and to make a solidarity visit to the Kayan East community which was the scene of a landslide in early November that killed 35, injured 3 and wounded the whole community (this is the words of Fr. Claver, the parish priest).
We visited the MPSPC campus where a quick session on the use of the videocam was conducted by Franco. Tadian does have not access to the internet, even with the SMARTBro that is supposed to link you to the internet for pay. The students will use the videocam to create their own work for uploading to their site this weekend.
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Comment by Jon Ramer on November 23, 2009 at 5:55pm This is great! Please keep sharing. What are the addresses for the six sites?
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Comment by Bernice A. See on November 26, 2009 at 8:07pm Day 4: 24 November 2009, Tuesday By the way, yesterday evening, about 10 students came over for mentoring from 6-8:30p.m. The participants are still working on their sites and finalising the names as they consult with their groups. Anyway for today, since the students were in their classes, we took the opportunity to check our emails, do some work and get to know the town better and went to Teng-ab, a strategic location above the town center where the Roman Catholic Vicariate has its headquarters. This afforded us a view of the town as it is now, and then went to the Bontoc Museum where we compared the view some 70 years back to what it is now. These visits allows us better understanding of the developments in the physical and social environment of the students. We passed by houses which serve as boarding house for students. Bontoc town center is located in a small narrow valley at the confluence of the Chico and Talubin rivers as the Chico winds its way down to Kalinga and finally to the northern tip of the Philippines to the Pacific Ocean. About 8 students came over in the evening for mentoring and some have started their blogs. The final names of the group sites will be known when the owners will launch them. We do not want to pre-empt them now.
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Comment by Bernice A. See on November 26, 2009 at 8:36pm Day 5: 25 November 2009, Wednesday An exposure visit to Besao and Sagada to give Deloria and Franco an apprecation of the diverse contexts of where the students and organisations are coming from. Besao and Sagada are up-mountain towns thus much cooler than Bontoc. If Bontoc is the homeland of the Bontok (note the k), Besao and Sagada are peopled by Kankanaey, alternatively written as Kankana-ey), the same ethnolinguistic group as those of Tadian and Bauko municipalities nearby. With its cooler climate, Besao and Sagada produce the temperate fruits and vegetables that have been introduced to the area - sayote from Masferre (Catalan Spanish who decided to settle in Sagada during one Spanish expedition in these mountains), tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, Chinese cabbage,etc. from the American colonial occupation and Chinese traders. We visited the Laoingan abong - the traditional village headquarters where the council of male elders would hold their deliberations, and where the boys are tempered into men. This particular abong (or dap-ay), is the central abong of Besao village. Besao is the name of the village and at the same time the municipality. In pre-colonial times, it was named Golinsan. The barangay is the smallest political and administrative unit of the Philippine state. Before the village was split into to barangays, it was referred to as Besao Proper to differentiate it from the municipality. Now, there is a Besao West and Besao East barangays. The dap-ay/abong system, however, is maintained and has its own constituency composed of households within its defined jurisdiction. Now that there is the state apparatus, the council's powers has been relegated to the regulation of the agricultural calendar, the guardian of sacred sites and the performance of rituals. However, it also mediates intra-village conflicts and resolves petty-crimes. In times when the whole village is affected, for instance during resource conflicts with other communities, the council becomes the key player in representing the community. Sagada is a town well-known among backpackers, expatriate artists and the Makati elite. It is a lovely town characterised by limestone formations. Its present character has been shaped to a significant extend by the Episcopal Church. This is where the first Church-run schools and hospital were established. It also was a very important industrial center for American colonial needs in the early part of the 1900s when a sawmill, printing press and a general store was operated by the Mission. Now, these are gone but the attraction for local and international visitors is there.
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Comment by Bernice A. See on November 26, 2009 at 8:41pm Day 6: 26 November 2009, Thursday Return to Bontoc from Besao-Sagada. Internet is down even in the school so we could not do mentoring. In the Igorot way of celebration, Deloria and Franco joined the men-aaballayan (co-parents) Solangs and Aquinos for a lunch of pinikpikan (chicken butchered the Igorot way called 'killing me softly' and cooked with native ham). Igorots value co-parenting where the parents and relatives of a couple pay each other a visit when in town and share food.
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Comment by Bernice A. See on November 27, 2009 at 9:57pm Day 7: 27 November 2009, Friday No signal in the hotel so had to go to the VP-Admin Office to check mails. I was invited by Dr. Evangeline Aguilan who is centrally involved in the conceptualisation of the Indigenous Peoples Knowledge, Practices and Systems Institute to comment on the concept paper. The MPSPC is vying for university status and thus is trying to develop some innovative programs so it can find a niche in the Philippine educational system. It is important that support is given by all Igorot intellectuals and activists to this endeavor, beyond the politics of patronage and convenience. Adi tako bokodan di gawis! Ipey-yas nan gawis! What are these mottos if we just sit by and watch the world go by. It is heartening to note that a consultative process is being undertaken by the College to co-create this program. The Tadian students arrived late in the afternoon and immediately proceeded to check on their sites with Deloria and Franco mentoring them. The day ended with a dinner for Franco to celebrate his 25th birthday! Happy birthday Franco! We are privileged to have you celebrate your natal day in Bontoc!
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Comment by Bernice A. See on November 28, 2009 at 12:43am Day 8: 28 November 2009, Saturday It is 3pm and a group of the participants went tot he Plaza for picture-taking. We just finished critiquing the work of the 5 groups: UGFO Nation, BEADS MPYA, USKILA, APIT-MON, SHERAG. The groups had wonderful works! 1. The UGFO Nation is composed of students from the IT (Information Technology) Department of the College and their work reflected their technical skills. The group's motto is 'Unity Gives Fruitful Life'. They aim to promote global networking in order to inform the world better the good things about the Igorots - both as peoples and as a territory. Ugfo is a Bontok term which refers to mutual exchange labor traditionally practised in many societies. During peak agricultural seasons like rice planting and harvesting seasons, the villagers, especially the women, will group themselves and work in each other's fields in rotation. That way, the burden is shared and the work in done in a timely and efficient manner. During house-building, the villagers will also contribute their labor for a number of days to help the family. Because of the villages' integration into the cash economy, and the need to have a source of income, this practice is eroding but the principle of helping is always there. 2. The BEADS MPYA is composed of students who belong to the Mountain Province Youth Association. Among Cordillera IPs, beads are associated with women, and they are valuable heirlooms that are passed on to daughters and daughters-in-law. Beads are treasures and the youth are our treasures to propagate and develop our cultures to future generations. Taking a symbol associated with women, hopefully the group will also deal with gender issues as women are severely impacted with these issues. The groups intends to link up with IP youth in the Philippines in order to inform, share and collectively address human rights and development issues they are facing. They offer their site as a platform for discussions, for sharing analyses and for taking collective action. 3. USKILA is composed of the students from the Tadian campus of the College. Despite the lack of internet access during the whole week, the students were able to develop further their site as soon as they arrived yesterday and this morning before the presentations. USKILA stands for Unity, Solidarity, Knowledge, Integrity, Loyalty and Accountability, the principles that guide the group in their lives. Uskila is the Igorot term for learner. The groups intends to promote and inform the world about Igorot culture, and help in developing it further. It wants to promote non-discrimination so it welcomes anyone who wants to know about Igorot culture and contribute ideas to join their site. 4. The APIT-MON is composed of participants from the Cordillera Peoples Alliance Mountain Province Chapter. Apit is an Igorot term meaning 'harvest'. It reflects the bounty of human and natural resources that the Igorots have to advance their right to self-determination. The priority issues that the group intends to focus on are human rights issues. IP territories are continually under assault from state and corporate interests which want to exploit the resources therein for profit, and often do not respect indigenous peoples rights, leading to human rights violations. 5. The SHERAG group is composed of the Supreme Student Council and the College paper, Ap-apaway, together with the Vicariate of Bontoc Lagawe. The group focused on the students as the Vicariate will develop its own site. Sherag is a Sadanga term referring to moonlight. SHERAG wants to focus on student leadership and its responsibility to promote accountability and transparency. It intends to do this by posting all reports, activities, schedules and other matters that relate to student rights in the site. The recognition to be transparent and accountable by the student leaders themselves augurs well for a transformed leadership in the future. Soft light, but important when it is dark. All these sites will be launched at the end of the training on Monday, 30 November 2009. It will only be then that they will invite members.
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Comment by Bernice A. See on November 29, 2009 at 6:07am Day 9: 29 November 2009, Sunday It is Sunday today, traditionally a day for going to church and for relaxing to be ready for Monday's work. But wait, tomorrow, 30 December, is a national holiday to celebrate Andres Bonifacio Day. Andres Bonifacio is one of the heroes of the Philippines, a martyr killed by his own comrades in the Katipunan led by Aguinaldo. Today, more than 20 students were glued to their screens fixing up the features and appearances of their sites, adding contents in music, video and photo, blogging their thoughts away. Some were uploading files from other sites. Deloria and Franco were diligently mentoring each group. At 11am, Jon Ramer, the lead trainor came on board skype from Seattle and settled some glitches facing some of the students. After lunch, Phil Lane, the advisor of the Four Worlds International Institute came on board to listen to the students on their experiences, and for him to give inspirational messages to them. One student thanked him for bringing in Deloria to the world! Six students spoke of their educational experience with the training. They realistically and guardedly said that they want to move forward in the development of their sites as a means to inform, reach out and engage 'others'. Aside from developing their own sites (please go to Links), several sub-groups and individuals were developing their own sites. These sites were mostly about their own villages or barangays (smallest political unit). The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has a website containing all the links to regional, provincial and municipal government sites. However, I spent 30 minutes accessing Bontoc but to no avail. Try it! The sites to be developed by the students on their own barangays or municipalities would serve as alternative information sites. The students have invited the trainors to sign in to their sites so now I am editing the groups yesterday to hyperlink their names with their sites. Happy discovery!
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Comment by Bernice A. See on November 29, 2009 at 6:18am Oh, I cannot edit my comment (warning for those who are not careful. Netiquette tells you that you must read and re-read before posting)! Anyway, here are the group sites: UGFO Nation BEADS MPYA USKILA APIT-MON SHERAG
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Comment by Bernice A. See on December 8, 2009 at 9:04pm Day 10: 30 November 2009, Monday Yehey! Graduation Day! 31 participants (14 females, 17 males) completed the course from an initial enrollment of 45. The Presidential Assistant on Cordillera Affairs, Thomas Killip, gave the post-training challenge, while certificates were given to all for their participation. There was a final review of the sites in the morning, and then these were presented also to the College officials, headed by the College President, Nieves Dacyon, and the guests.