Rey Anthony Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, July 28, 2012 (PIA) – Perched atop the mountain fastness of Lundag in Pilar town, a community of indigenous people has held on to the tradition of the Eskaya for generations.
About twenty kilometers away, in the hazy flatlands west of the mountains lie the town center.
Other than the visual connection, a dirt road that winds up the mountains is the Eskayas only connection to the outside world.
While preserving the culture and tradition ranks high in the government’s priorities for the tribe that occupies the boundaries of Duero, Guindulman, Candijay, Pilar and Sierra Bullones towns, would relegating them in their tiny remote worlds be enough justification that they be kept away from civilization?
This question nagged the past mayors of Pilar town who also thought these people do not deserve shrugs of indifference.
Attempts to connect the tribe to the Poblacion in Pilar started then in the past, but the makeshift road that links the two centers has dilapidated itself, and some portions of it are best navigated on foot.
Although not your all weather type of road, the access drastically cut walking time from Lundag to the town center in half, not yet so ideal for Eskaya vegetable traders to get their products to the market before they wilt.
Spring onions and cabbage can not be sold at premium price when wilted, confesses a woman tribe member.
Remote and inaccessible for most part of the time, especially on rainy days, the Eskayas of Lundag learned high value commercial crop cultivation aided by the high altitudes and the kind of soil that most forest fringed communities.
But with a road carved out of the mountain sides, rains erode the road surfaces and brings in knee deep mud that cuts off the village, said Lundag Eskaya elder Eugene Lloren.
We have to devise a plan to strengthen the portions that are most impassable, said Mayor Wilson Pajo, who was among those chief executives who vigorously believes Eskaya or not, they deserve access too government help like any other minority groups.
But, at a loss of development funds, the town can only do as much: scrape land-slid portions and pray the road retains its form until the next rainy season.
When the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development came, things emerged bright, admits Gualberto Jaspe, Pilar Information Officer.
With it, the Eskaya and the barangay council organized to come up with a community participatory assessment of the village needs, and deciding on fixing the inaccessible parts of the 18 kilometer makeshift road earned no objections.
Funded by the Word Bank, Kalahi helped bond people of the Eskaya and the rural community in Lundag, pushed them to identify more critical portions of the road so the appropriate rehabilitation works could be done to assure the steady stream of vegetable buyers from transporting the products.
When the project funds ran out, another round of project funds from the Millennium Challenge Account opened, and this lengthened the rehabilitation, Gualberto Jaspe said.
Jaspe, who sits as SB Secretary, information officer and personnel officer said the Eskaya and the baragay leaders picked the most difficult parts of the road for rehabilitation and put in community labor to complete the project.
Now after rehabilitating portions of the farm to market roads, tribe traders said getting their products to the town center can be done in 30 minutes, way better than the two hours then.
It also means that their products get less product spoilage owing to better roads, even if much could be desired.
We just make do with the little we have and make sure traders can get their trucks up the mountains, Mayor Pajo added.
This way, we make sure the Eskaya gets a much better financial freedom, even if we would wish they keep their traditions with them, the mayor said.
In Pilar, local officials desire that the Eskaya keep their culture from contamination. But keeping them in their world high up in the mountains deprive them of the services they deserve. The road network is just a link, when people use it, it opens up a different kind of life for their kids.
They deserve it. (30)
