Ang Magiting - The Official Web Site of Rotary Club Makati North

RCMN Presentation - Aetas of Botolan

By: PP Boy Sevilla
May 25, 2011

Guest Speakers:
1 Carlito Domulot, Chieftain / LAKAS
2 Butog Domulot, Chieftain’s son & youth leader
3 Noel Domulot, Chieftain’s son, 1st Aeta Law graduate & youth leader
4 Tubag Jugatan, youth leader
5 Lita Jugatan Domacena, accountant / youth leader
6 Lita Deliquina, nurse volunteer
7 Paolo Sevilla, PP Boy Sevilla’s son / deep immersion with the Aetas / HS Ateneo de Manila

Intro: RCMN-LAKAS Cooperation
• On December 16, 1992, a year after Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991, displacing our Aeta brothers from their ancestral home & relocating them in the lowlands of Zambales, PP Gus Lagman invited Aeta chieftain (Palab) Palauig to be a guest speaker at the RCMN.
• In RY1994-05, PP Bert Lingad organized a medical/dental/relief mission to Zambales which became an annual club tradition and continued up to RY 2004-05.
• PP Bert donated a farmland to the displaced Aetas who rose to the challenge to learn lowland farming & are now self-sufficient rice farmers.
• The 1st Medical, Dental, Relief Mission was organized by PP Bert Lingad last Nov. 5 & 6, 1994 to be honored as a club tradition of Rotary service.
• The 2nd Medical, Dental, Relief Mission was organized by PP Rudy Campos last Dec. 9 & 10, 1995.
• The 3rd Medical, Dental, Relief Mission was organized by PP Tony Chong last April 5 & 6, 1997. This was also the 1st Joint Rotary Ayta Mission with the Rotary Club of Makati Dasmarinas.
• The RCMN Ayta Scholarship Program was launched SY1997-98 with 2 Ayta children.
• The 4th Medical, Dental, Relief Mission was organized by PP Rene Magadia last March 7 & 8, 1998. This was the 2nd Joint Rotary Ayta Mission with the Rotary Club of Makati Dasmarinas.
• The 5th Medical, Dental, Relief Mission was organized by PP Dieter Brueckner last Feb. 27 & 28, 1999.
• PP Gus Lagman sponsored two Ayta students at STI in 1999.
• The 6th Medical, Dental, Relief Mission was organized by PP Ed Mijares last March 11 & 12, 2000. This was a joint project with the RCMN Inner Wheel Club and RCM Dasmarinas. The GSE Team from USA joined us here. Rtn. Larry Bortles recorded this mission in CD ROM format.
• IPP Boy Ampil undertook the 7th Medical/Dental/Relief Mission last March 2001. This was a join project with the Inner Wheel Club of Makati North and the Rotary Club of Makati Dasmarinas.
• The 1st four Ayta college graduates for SY2000-01 were Lita Jugatan, Ric Cabalic, Edgar Domulot and Christopher Domulot.
• Four new Aytas were accepted to the RCMN Ayta Scholarship Program, Carol Domulot, Matan Jugatan, Popoy Domulot and Christopher Domulot who will purse B.S. Computer Science. Total scholarship fund of P104,172 was disbursed. These students will continue for the SY2002-03 except for Christopher Domulot who is graduating this summer.
• April 27-28 Pres. Boy Sevilla implemented Ayta Outreach 2002 – a medical / dental / scholarship / outreach mission with the Inner Wheel Club of Makati North Pres. Maribel Calma.
• On March 4, 2003, Pres. Orly Morabe conducted an outreach mission and that same Rotary year continued the scholarship program.
• On March 6 -7, 2004 Pres. Donnies Alas conducted a “Botolan Outreach Mission” (which includes livelihood program, scholarship program, medical mission and support services).
• In RY 2004-05, Pres. Ric dela Torre continued the scholarship program for 3 Ayta students.
• In RY 1997-98, RCMN supported by the IWCMN started a scholarship programme which continued until RY 2004-05.

By way of thanksgiving, our Aeta guests led by Chieftain Carlito Domulat presented the fruits of our help & support of the LAKAS community.

While they value the donation of land, the medical/dental/relief missions and the scholarship program, what they value most is our friendship and the respect that we have given them as our brothers in God-the-Creator (Apo na Mallari). They thank us most for treating them as equals.

In Chieftain Carlito’s words (freely translated): “Because you, the Rotary Club of Makati North, showed us your respect, other organizations, both local and foreign, government agencies and non-government organizations, also accorded us the same respect.”

Report: Fruits of the Land
Prior to the eruption of Pinatubo & their forced resettlement in the lowlands of Botolan, Zambales, the Aetas were hunters & gatherers who did some upland farming. With survival and sustenance as their objective, and the opportunity presented by the farmland donated by PP Bert Lingad, they learned lowland farming and are now self-sufficient rice farmers.

When a six-hectare property was awarded to them through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), they opted to use funds donated for the purchase of food to pay for the land with the objective of obtaining a sustainable source of food.

To date they are also self-sufficient vegetable farmers, and are advocates of organic farming. They continue to study and learn, accessing training through the department of agriculture and non-government organizations.

They supplement their rice and vegetable harvests with fishing and hunting.

Report: Fruits of Education
The first four scholars graduated from college in SY2000-01. To date, the Aetas have graduated 21 youth, with 11 more students currently enrolled in college courses.

The LAKAS community continues to self-fund the education of their youth by using the proceeds of the harvest of a plot of riceland allocated for scholarships.

Among the graduates are accountants, agriculturists, foresters, educators, nurses, social workers and a law graduate who is currently reviewing for the bar.

All the graduates have returned to their community to apply what they have learned to uplift not just their community but to reach out to other communities.

They continue not just to practice but also to propagate the practice of their traditional culture and values.
Sharing the Fruits

The LAKAS community now has an alternative learning school not just for their children and youth but also those for other indigenous peoples and even lowlanders. Their teachers enable out-of-school youth to take and pass high school equivalency examinations.

Lita Jugatan Domacena, a youth leader, together with volunteer nurse Lita Deliquina is actively engaged in conducting seminars and workshops to educate and empower women in remote communities.

Networking & Sharing with Indigenous Peoples
Chieftain Carlito Domulot and before him Chieftain Ben Jugatan have represented the LAKAS community & Filipino indigenous communities in gatherings and conferences overseas.

These conferences have been in such countries as Australia, Brazil, Denmark and the Netherlands where they have discussed common concerns like preserving traditional cultural values and land tenure. These conferences were opportunities for exposure, for learning from each other.

Continuing Education and Leadership Training
Youth leaders Lita Jugatan, Butog Domulot and Tubag Jugatan have attended leadership training workshops in Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands.

Butog Domulot, the first STI scholar, also participated in a ten-month leadership training workshop in Japan which he applied for through the internet.

Youth leaders Catherine Domulot, Daisy Jugatan, Macliing Jugatan, Topher Balda and Paolo Sevilla attended a 5-day “Beekeeping Training” at the San Ambrosio Apiary of PP Joe Reano with the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University.

Active Engagement in the Community
Our Aeta brothers have become more and more engaged in the larger Filipino community, making their own contribution to the building of our nation.

Tubag Jugatan was a councilor in Botolan, Zambales. Carlito Domulot is actively engaged in the Peace Process and has been asked to be a mediator and arbiter as far away as Mindanao. Lita Jugatan continues to travel to far flung barrios, educating women on their rights and responsibilities

Moving Forward: Balik-Pinatubo
Today our Aeta brothers hold in their hands title to 17,000 hectares of ancestral domain. They have achieved this through patience and persistence, and faith in the God-of-Providence (“Apo na Mallari”).

And they have a dream. The dream is to go back home – to Pinatubo: the motherland from which they were wrenched, which was made barren and denuded by the volcanic eruption 3 decades ago.

A Dream Development Masterplan
Decades ago way before Pinatubo erupted, Sr. Menggay of the Franciscan Missionaries asked Chieftain Carling what he wanted for his people. Carling candidly shared his wishes – his people to know how to read and write and learn how to account – makapagbasa, maka sulat at matutong magkwenta.

A few weeks ago I asked him the same question in the light of the awarded ancestral domain. Carling shared these 5 points with me:
• Maibalik ang gubat / Reforestation
• Mapaunlad ang malinis na tubig / clean water – watertable preservation
• Maka kalikasan na pagsasaka / organic farming
• Daanan / road access, and
• Maibahagi sa lahat ang ganda ng Pinatubo / Eco-tourism.

These are profound wishes that require masterplanning: – Area survey – Clean water distribution and watertable management – Soils testing for the selection of appropriate plants and trees – Access to market

This dream is to create a MODEL reforestation and sustainable organic farming. Imagine a black board erased and now ready to write on. This is his dream not just for his people but for other Filipinos to emulate and copy. We can all be a part of this “Balik Pinatubo”.