Sanchez Mira town and the Grey-faced Buzzard

The municipality of Sanchez Mira is located in the province of Cagayan. It is intermediated by two gateways namely, the city of Laoag in Ilocos Norte and Tuguegarao. In my only visit to this town last March 23-26 I discovered that there are interesting things in Sanchez Mira other than its tourism attractions and laid back setting. Situated in the northern tip of the Philippines, this municipality had been hosting flock of Grey-faced Buzzard (Butastur indicus), a migratory raptor wintering in the Philippines being part of its migration flyway.

Sanchez Mira successfully embedded its existence with Grey-faced Buzzard, making it a flagship species of the town which eventually underscored wildlife conservation and avian tourism. The leaders here, headed by Mayor Abraham Bagasin, injected a notion that development should not impair nature, something that other leaders should look into and emulate.

No wonder, Sanchez Mira was the perfect venue for the 4^th International Summit for Grey-faced Buzzard and other Migratory Raptors. This event spanned for four years already and hosted by different countries such as Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. Several conservationists and bird enthusiasts from these countries convened in Sanchez Mira on March 23-25 for rigorous discourse, fostering alliances, and promoting sustainable practices in wildlife conservation and nature-based tourism.

Personally, this summit has rewired me to my childhood experience with Grey-faced Buzzard and other common resident raptors in the Philippines. We call this bird TIKWI, while the other raptor Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) was locally christened as BANOG. Yes, we patterned our childhood game to these two – Tikwi-Banog. The two reasons I enjoyed so much as a kid in the countryside before now serve as reasons of my passion for conservation.

Anyway, what I got out of that summit? Definitely a lot, but I was impressed with the declaration which I got involved with as participant, which is to:

 

1. Sustain information, education and communication movements every year, and institutionalize wildlife studies in the academe.

2. Advocate for science-based legislation on the local level, complementing our countries’ national laws on wildlife protection, with special focus on the Grey-faced Buzzard and vulnerable or endangered migratory raptors and their habitat.

3. Weigh the impact of local development plans and investment plans and recalibrate these to ensure the scientific placement of clean energy and commercial or residential land use, in such a way that will not jeopardize habitats of the Grey-faced Buzzard and other migratory raptors and birds.

4.  Innovate programs and protocols for ecotourism, based on sincere deference for wildlife movement within their habitats, as well as on respect for local culture.

It is commendable that Sanchez Mira hosted the summit with a lot of learning points to ponder. First, they make Grey-faced Buzzard a flagship species of its town when the bird is still classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Here I realized that it does not necessarily take for a species to be Endangered of Critically Endangered to be conserved and protected. Second, wildlife should be treated as an important piece of creation which in my opinion should as well be accorded respect by protecting their habitat in a circular approach. Instead of building cages as shelter why can’t we expand our forest ecosystems so that these wildlife species will flourish and can multiply naturally? It is about time to erase that tradition of utilizing wildlife as a commodity for fund-raising project.

I am one with Engr. Arthur Ibañez of Cagayan State University in saying that the Grey-faced Buzzard is not just a bird; it is a testament to our shared responsibility towards the natural world. It is therefore imperative to provide these creatures an unhindered sky where they can soar without the threat of fear.

Again, I am gratified by Director Tanya R. Tan of Department of Tourism XI for subsidizing my expenses to this trip, enabling me to visit other popular places in Luzon particularly in regions 1 and 2. And to my mayor in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur Jose Nelson Z. Sala, Sr. through Municipal Administrator Omar Jason Martel for granting my request to join a very important event.

This will always be a great start to establish comprehensive effort for conservation and ecotourism. I promise to always be an agent for good things happening in the future.   

Weekend Trek in Limba Falls

I’ve been aching to visit Limba Falls in Sinoron because it is the only site left unexplored within the Sinoron Ecopark and the community had long been wanting to include this as another product for tourists to visit sooner than later. On January 13, 2024 I finally completed a day trek here with the Sinoron Tribal Workers Association and Indigenous People Youth group led by Billy Omang. Thank you for joining me in this trek Angel, Rexcie, Maimai, Javier and Nong Nerio.

Limba Falls is located in sition Karamagan, the same route we used during exploration of other sites such as Dumaok Falls, Kasisi Falls and Tacub Laya Falls taking the left track before entering the façade of Pilan River hanging bridge. This route also highlights several springs and creeks that authenticate Sinoron’s existence as the ultimate Water World of Sta. Cruz.

The trail is a plantation of assorted perennial crops like cardava, fruit trees, abaca and coconut. It has lesser settlement though compared to sitio Sangay and it edged in a rock wall flanking barangay Saliducon and the dominant Tagaytay and Aré ridges. Another ridge stretching westward with a rolling terrain led us to the majestic Limba Falls cascading on a hard ledge of around 40 meters. The perimeter is surrounded with lush forest, serving home to attractive flora and fauna.

The distance to Limba Falls from barangay hall of Sinoron is 6.5 kilometers but with the road going to Pilan River now being constructed the best place to start the trek is at the bamboo junction of Pilan just before reaching the river to ease the strain of trekking in a paved road and to also give opportunity for motorcycle drivers to earn income, reducing the trekking distance to only 3 kilometers.

Some interesting stories are embedded with Limba Falls. My good friend Datu Danny Udal told me it hosted a rido settlement by the warriors from Sinoron and Sibulan in the 18^th century and it cost a slave’s life before the fighting clan finally mellowed down onward to resolving the long-time conflict. This waterfalls is sacred for the indigenous peoples, and while it is imperative to consider it for ecotourism there is a need to seek consent from the Indigenous Political Structure and other tribal leaders who have known the value of the waterfalls to the life of the Bagobo-Tagabawa.

Limba Falls definitely nourishes the residents of Sinoron by providing support system to their traditional farming methodology. It also nourishes their soul by leaving an indelible footprints of courage, determination and bravery. I hope that this waterfalls will continue to be of greater worth to the good people of my beloved barangay Sinoron. 

Ritual for the Water

By Julius R. Paner

While birding in Saliducon on December 31, 2023 I chanced upon a group of Bagobo-Tagabawa from barangay Sinoron who were on a scheduled ritual ceremony they do annually to give thanks and gratitude to the Supreme God Manama for the abundance of water they get from Salop spring. The group are familiar faces in Sinoron Ecopark who are really good friends led by Datu Danny Udal, Nong Nerio Quitua and former barangay captain Henry Lim. Salop Spring belongs to Saliducon but they agreed that the source be utilized for Sinoron residents with mutual agreement to pay royalty out of the potable water they get from Salop. They agreed harmoniously given that Saliducon and Sinoron are neighbor barangays and it belong to one Ancestral Domain and customarily the Tagabawas are peace-loving and compassionate people.

I joined the 30-minute trek knowing that the ritual would give me more wisdom about gratifying God for the water and friends and everything in between. Over the years I have accorded tremendous respect to Datu Danny for being a good leader of his tribal guards association who painstakingly safeguard the rainforest of Sta. Cruz particularly in Sinoron and adjacent areas. I consider this man a mentor and father not only because we share the same passion of conservation but at the same time he has all the prudence of a true Tagabawa. And my respect grew to higher proportion when I witnessed him leading a ritual for the water in Salop Spring. Here I realized the sense to acknowledge Manama for giving us water. Every year Datu Danny delivers prayer of admiration and credits and even forgiveness to the “owners of the waters.” 

I said to myself this is a serious ritual. Something that should be emulated by the rest of humanities. In a casual conversation Datu Danny said few interesting facts about the chronicles of the Tagabawas in the foothills of Mt. Apo, stressing important roles of water systems such as spring and rivers to the overall survival of the tribe dating back 15^th century. He shared that when they had all the struggles of natural disasters, hunger and even insurgency all they needed was to stay close to a place with water and everything would be fine. I have been working long enough as a cultural worker but the wisdom I got from Datu Danny during this trek was special because he emphasized something extra special about gratifying God for the gift of water.

In Sta. Cruz there are important springs tapped as sources of potable water. Ragobrob Spring has been the main source of water for seven barangays (Bato, Tagabuli, Tuban, Zone 4, Zone 3, Zone 2 and Zone 1) while the Binuangon Spring in Coronon is a reliable base providing water to the residents of barangay Coronon. Lumaban Spring in Sinoron is an active water source for its northern sitios and portions of Zone 2 while a spring in Mt. Buribid distributes water access to the residents of barangay Tibolo. All the rest have different sources for minor consumption and some industries are utilizing underground sources to support their water-based businesses. The only thing left unexplored are surface waters from our major rivers such as Pilan, Sibulan and Langan.

With all these being presented I could hardly remember barangay functionaries, government offices and private sector employing ritual for the water the way Datu Danny and his group did last December 31. Except for some entities I cannot even recall how many of us propelled a mechanism to maintain a healthy forest that serves as wellspring of water and life.  There are very few I should say, and I take off my hat to you for that.

Apart from the rituals being undertaken should also sprout the efforts to conserve our forest environment to prevent water crisis in the future. Our friends from Sinoron maintain an annual ritual for the waters and at the same time seriously plant trees to support their prayer. We need to learn from them.