Unfortunately, I won’t be able to go, since I have a previous engagement. But I and the rest of ELF will be there not only in spirit, but in other ways.

It’s one thing to get the title to their ancestral domain, which significantly includes Mt. Pinatubo. It’s another thing to be ale to develop it to benefit the Aeta communities while conserving biodiversity and protecting the forests and watersheds.

ELF and PBAZ see the granting of the CADT as an opportunity, but even more, as a challenge. “Let us check if there have been previous CADT which have been conserved and developed to the benefit of the indigenous communities,” I told our staff meeting.

I teased Carling: “Unfortunately, there is greater global appreciation for the 15,000 hectares and its forests, than for the Aeta communities. But since you are the legal stewards of the area, whatever you do will be appreciated; it will also offer lessons not just for other places in the Philippines, but even for other places in the world.”

When ELF entered into a long-term partnership with PBAZ, the association of Aeta leaders who have graduated from our grassroots leadership course, we did not anticipate that they will get their CADT. But this new opportunity will need a large “community of leaders and learners” to insure not only that the area is protected but that it is developed in a way that benefits the Aeta communities while conserving biodiversity.

During the first six months of 2010, ELF and PBAZ will develop and implement a new leadership course for community-based “biodiversity conservation and sustainable development” to build the capability of the Aeta communities to protect and develop their ancestral domain.

The possibilities are exciting, but the challenges are daunting.

We have picked up a lesson from the protection and reforestation of the La Mesa Watershed. Corporate sponsors were convinced to commit 20,000 pesos per year for three years, which supported the planting of 400 trees per hectare, from the nursery to forest guards. From the Foundation for Philippine environment, we learned that 600 trees per hectare is a better number, but following the principle of “rainforestation,” only indigenous species must be used, and there should be no monoculture.

Carling thinks that instead of relying on paid forest guards, we should support households not only to gather wildlings and set up community nurseries, but also to take care of the newly planted tress for at least three years, assigning a hectare per household. The households should also be helped to practice organic agriculture in between the growing trees, so they have alternative income to cutting trees, and have added reason to visit their assigned areas regularly.

But where to get the needed cash? In one brainstorming session, we dreamt of a different “carbon trading” scheme, where individuals and communities with large footprints inside the Philippines and friends in other countries could support the cost of nurseries and reforestation, and occasionally help in the planting of trees, since there are thousands of hectares that await.

For the four barangays of Villar, Belbel, Morza, and Burgos, their dream is to re-establish small settlements in the mountains from which they were dispersed by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. These will also be the places for the main nurseries, and community facilities for the various training programs that we will be offering to lowlanders and outsiders who want to learn with the Aetas about biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

Carling tells us about hot springs two kilometers from the peak of Mt. Pinatubo, where he once bathed and cured some skin disease he suffered from. “We should develop a sacred grove nearby, where we plant our indigenous trees and herbal plants,” he suggests. “Perhaps that will also be the place where we can combine our indigenous healing practices and the new healing methods that Girlie is studying.” Who knows, that may be a future healing spa.

I am reminded of a saying we had in prison which we applied to ELF: “Happy are those who dream dreams, and are willing to pay the price to make their dreams come true.”

ELF met with some Aeta leaders a few years after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 displaced the Aeta communities from their homeland and dispersed them to different resettlement areas. Since then, they have struggled to sustain their livelihood, and their culture and identity. Integral to this struggle is their effort to have their rights recognized to their ancestral domain.

It has been a long struggle, and will continue for a long time for most of the Aetas. But there is some good news, with the granting of the first CADT (Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title) to four Aeta barangays, including many of our leader-graduates and PBAZ leaders.

Here is the news item as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

It’s official: Pinatubo is now owned by Aetas

By Tonette Orejas

Philippine Daily Inquirer

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—Mt. Pinatubo, including the three-kilometer wide crater lake left by its 1991 eruptions, is now officially lutan tua (ancestral land) of Aetas in Botolan, Zambales.

Carlito Domulot, chair of the Lubos ng Alyansa ng mga Katutubong Ayta sa Sambales (Lakas), shared this piece of information with the Inquirer on Thursday as he received confirmation from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) that at least 15,998 hectares have been registered at the Registry of Deeds in Zambales as a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT).

NCIP Commissioner Rolando Rivera confirmed Domulot’s information, saying CADT RO3-BOT-0708-073 indeed includes the volcano.

“Their CADT really covers Mt. Pinatubo,” Rivera said in a telephone interview.

He said a CADT registered with the Registry of Deeds “perfected the tribe’s ownership and stewardship of their ancestral domain.”

Registered on Oct. 3 and issued on Nov. 9, the CADT is entered as Original Certificate of Title No. CAD-0-1.

The application originally covers 20,567.89 hectares. The size was reduced to 15,998.4748 hectares after government agencies recognized and segregated private titles within ancestral domains.

The final CADT spans the villages of Burgos, Villar, Moraza and Belbel in Botolan and portions of the towns of Cabangan, San Felipe and San Marcelino, the title showed.

Domulot said the volcano straddles Villar and Belbel.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) refers to Mt. Pinatubo and its environs as located in the tri-boundary of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga. The volcano’s crater lake and lahar canyons have drawn local and foreign tourists.

“Before the CADT came, we, Aetas of Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales, have an understanding that Pinatubo is on the Botolan (Zambales) side and the lands there belong to us, Botolan Aetas,” Domulot said.

Helping Aetas protect their domain from Korean and other foreign and local business ventures, the Botolan council issued in August 2008 a resolution recognizing the ownership and management of Botolan Aetas over Mt. Pinatubo.

Although vigilant against Korean firms on the Tarlac side, the Aetas have not built gates or watchtowers to ward off illegal settlers.

The Aetas returned to the volcano about five years after the eruptions to cultivate lands there.

Although the lands were made fertile by volcanic materials, Domulot said the lack of farming and fishing tools make it difficult for the tribe to grow more cash crops.

“Our elders have been fighting for our lands since the time of [the late former President Ferdinand] Marcos,” he said.

Rivera said the NCIP had registered at least four CADTs covering 25,615 hectares in Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales and Aurora.

Pending registration are CADTs for Dumagats in Karahume, San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan (1,817 hectares) and for Kalanguyas in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija (25,373 hectares).

NCIP records showed there are still 11 pending applications for CADTs over 247,261.19 hectares in Central Luzon.

For a while, we thought the conference would not push through, since the day before, a horrific and gruesome massacre happened at the neighboring province of Maguindanao, just one hour away.

Despite his grief over the killing of members of his clan, and his urgent efforts to restrain his clan members from launching an armed retaliation, Congressman Pax still found time and energy to address our conference.

He had an interesting comment on literacy, power, and violence.

He said that when those who are in power are illiterate, the result is a deadly combination, of which the massacre in Maguindanao is an example. That is why he reiterated his long-term commitment to promoting and supporting education among his constituency.

He said that when he first run for mayor in Buluan (in Maguindanao), there were only 5 Muslims who had finished elementary education.

When he campaigned (and eventually won) as governor of Sultan Kudarat, he was a Muslim seeking votes from a majority (80%) Christian population. He narrated an amusing anecdote, meeting some Ilonggo women. They expressed their fear of him as a Muslim. “They tell us that if you win, you will send us back to Iloilo. Also, that you will forbid the raising of pigs.”

The fact that he won three terms as a Muslim governor of a predominantly Christian population is a tribute to the education of the electorate and of the candidate.

Of course, it is not as simple as that. There are highly educated people who also use power to perpetrate violence. But his equation is persuasive: Illiteracy+Power = Violence

It was Saturday, and no one was at the office. We took comfort that no life was in danger.

But after the flood receded, we decided that it is time to move elsewhere, to higher ground. Although many factors caused the destructive flood, the message of climate change was forcefully delivered, and like other residents in MetroManila, we had to integrate risk reduction in our post-typhoon reconstruction plans.

Fortunately, within a few weeks, one of ELF’s senior partner, May Cinco, saw a newly posted sign “For Rent” as she was walking down Marunong Street in Quezon City. After a series of negotiations we arrived at a rental agreement, initially for a year, with possibility of renewing our lease.

The two-story apartment is too big for ELF’s current needs, so we invited partner organizations to share the place with us. One is ECAP, the Electric Consumers Advocacy of the Philippines, whose national president is also ELF’s president. The other is La Liga Policy Institute, a co-convenor of ELF in Go Organic! Philippines.

As we discussed the sharing of space and house rules, we some up with the idea of going beyond a shared office to building the place as a resource center for our focus issues – Education, Energy, and Ecology.

Just this afternoon, while we took a break from arranging our files and books, painting furniture, and clearing the backyard, ELF staff brainstormed about climate change and renewable energy, and how we will develop learning modules for the grassroots community leaders who are our strategic partners. The idea of a resource center expanded to include our plans to set up vermicompost beds and developing our backyard into an organic garden and an outdoor meeting place.

Next Friday, we will host a small gathering to mark the global launch of the “Charter for Compassion” which grew from the TED wish of Karen Armstrong. Our initial translation into Filipino is “Kartilya ng Pagmamalasakit.”

We look forward to a housewarming and inauguration of our resource center in December. Visit us at 25 Marunong Street, Central District, Quezon City.

I explained that LEADERS is an acronym for Leaders, Educators, Advocates, for Development, Empowerment, Resilience, and Sustainability.

All the key words are part of the standard development NGO vocabulary. The only word that is relatively different is “resilience.” And yet, it may be one of the most central concept for the Aetas.

I thought back to this when Carling Domulot, president of LAKAS and vice-chair of PBAZ asked to meet with me last night. He updated me about the floods that destroyed part of the highway leading to Botolan, and especially the waters that uprooted all their growing crops of sweet potatoes and vegetables.

The LAKAS community had offered their six-hectare field to their fellow Aetas who had been displaced by the floods. They all planted root crops and vegetables on small plots,. While waiting for them to grow for the harvest, he has asked ELF for any funds we could collect, to buy rice that they could eat in the meantime. Although the LAKAS community was not flooded (it was built on slightly higher ground), all its residents, like the displaced Aetas, were without their daily income, which they earned by working as day workers in nearby fields. But these had all been flooded.

Carling and his fellow Aetas were looking forward to the harvest to meet their food needs. But the recent flood washed away their crops.

He was disheartened, of course. But rather than dwelling on their latest tragedy, he went to the local government to ask for help. Some of the students who had visited them also brought relief. Carling was grateful for the help, but he also worried that the vulnerable state of his fellow Aetas would set back the years of “empowerment” that he and other Aeta leaders had helped bring about.

“I remember when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991,” he said. “There were so many relief agencies who came to help us. They were competing with one another. We even experienced more divisions among the Aeta communities because each agency wanted their own partners.”

More important, prolonged dependence on relief weakened their tradition of self-reliance. This sense of dependence, plus the added divisions among them, were the focus of their education work and leadership over the past decade. He expressed his concern that the current disaster will bring back those old problems.

One small measure he suggests to those who bring them help is to avoid using the term “relief.” Instead, he suggests that the help offered should be like “food for work.” In exchange for support, the Aeta communities should clean up their settlements, plant trees, and plant food crops in between the trees.

Above all, he asks that outside agencies should work with the existing Aeta organizations and leaders, instead of creating exclusive partnerships.

Carling remembers 1991 vividly, and the many trials and challenges they had to overcome in order to rebuild their dispersed communities. Given the degradation of the forested mountains, and the siltation of rivers, he expects more disasters to occur in the future. He also has heard of the discussions on “climate change” and how they aggravate vulnerabilities.

But so long as their communities remain intact, and their leaders remain faithful to their interests, he trusts that the Aetas will recover after every trial, and will continue to pursue their vision of sustainable development. he even hopes to eventually return to the places which have been covered by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. He had visited some of their original settlements and was happy to see that plants have started growing where there was only barren soil.

That is an apt image of Aeta resilience.

E-Net Philippines, of which ELF is a founding member, is one of the convenors of Education Nation which seeks to bring together all the groups and institutions campaigning for education reforms.

The Philippine Business for Education, PBEd, acted as the lead convenor. The idea of Education Nation was hatched at a workshop organized by PBEd in Cebu in early March.

Although the focus of the campaign is on improving the formal, school-based, basic education system, Education Nation has accepted the advocacy of E-Net (and ELF) for building ALS or alternative learning systems for out of school youth and adults.

Education Nation sees its work as long-term and strategic. But because of the May 2010 elections, it seeks to make education reform one of the main issues in the election campaign, especially for the presidency. Hence its call for “an education government” and “an education president.”

The Brazilian host government explained that they did not want to take the risk of having an international gathering (of up to 2000 people) while the recent outbreak of swine flu is still not contained.

It’s disappointing of course, and there are lots of needed renegotiations about cancelled plane tickets and hotel bookings.

The four-person Danish delegation from AWE , the Association for World Education (to which ELF belongs), had bought tickets that cannot be refunded or rebooked. So they decided to proceed with their original plans and hold some acitvities with their Brazilian hosts.

They have sent photos and short write-ups from their ongoing visit. Check them out at www.awe-international.com

Since CONFINTEA is held only once every 12 years, both UNESCO and the host government of Brazil have received appeals that CONFINTEA still be held within 2009. We wait for the announcement of the new dates, most probably in late November or early December.

Thanks to our Danish friends for checking out Belem and giving us a sense of the place and its people.

Maraming salamat sa lahat ng inyong suporta sa Global Action Week 2009!  

Compared to last year, we were able to mobilize more advocates this year. More than 6,000 participated (last year we were 4,500) in several activities that campaigned for Youth and Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning. 

Many thanks to the following:

1. TEACHERS Inc and Teachers’ Dignity Coalition for spearheading the Big Read in Schools – Roxas High School, Sta Quiteria Elementary School, Baesa National High School, Digos City National High School, Tatalon Elementary School, Little Angels of St. Therese School (Dr. San Juan)

2. KUMPAS, Unang Hakbang, Home Along the Riles and World Vision Inc. for the community workshops held in Pasig City, Mandaluyong and Quezon City in the run up to the Big Read culminating activity.

3. Department of Education, in particular the EFA Secretariat, Literacy Coordinating Council, and the Bureau of Alternative Learning System, for co-organizing the Forum on Youth and Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning on April 21 at the Bulwagan ng Karunungan.

4. Partners In Education for Community Empowerment (PIECE) for arguing for the case of youth and adults in armed conflict area in a simlutaneous Big Read in Tulunan, North Cotabato where LGUs, OSY, PTCAs, teachers (TDC) and other stakeholders gathered in a colorful and meaningful program.

5. People’s Initiative for Learning and Community Development (PILCD), SPPI of Samar, University of Cebu (CESDEV), Coalition for Better Education and ABK 2 with CCF and ESKAN for holding simultaneous Big Read on the 22nd in Baguio City, Samar, Cebu City and Toboso, Negros Occidental respectively.

6. Thank you to all legislators who took the time to lend their support to the campaign — Rep. Risa Hontiveros, Com. Sec Gigi Ricafort (representing Rep. Del De Guzman), Atty. Butch Abad (representing Senator Mar Roxas).

We are still tallying reports from members and partners, so the number may still increase. We are currently sending the scanned attendance sheets and pictures to GCE.

Maraming salamat rin sa volunteers mula sa E-Net Youth campaigners for EFA (PINASAMA Youth, PIGLAS Youth, Metro West Network, Unang Hakbang, KUMPAS Youth, KASECA Youth), KPACIO at sa Kabataan Kontra Kahirapan (KKK) and ASPBAE.
 
Tuluy-tuloy ang kampanya para sa edukasyon ng kabataan at adults. Asahan namin ang inyong muling suporta sa gagawing school opening activity (Bakit wala kami sa iskul?) at sa Alternative Budget for Education.

I was asked to speak at the forum organized by E-Net with Dep-Ed. The question they wanted me to answer was “What does civil society expect from Confintea VI?” I gave a brief background of Confintea, and scanned what happened after Confintea V in Hamburg, 1997.

Realistically, adult education advocates have modest expectations about a global conference like Confintea. Most of our work has to be done nationally and locally. Hopefully, in the context of so many causes competing for scarce global attention and resources, Confintea will call increased attention to adult learning and education. Hopefully, we can re-energize one another through such global encounters, and develop a momentum for our work at home.

We can definitely learn from the campaign launched around EFA II in Dakar. Compared to EFA I in Jomtien, there is a more active and effective civil society campaign, represented by GCE. Even if the struggle continues to be uphill, the civil society campaign around EFA 2015 has made progress partly because it has definite goals for its advocacy work toward individual governments and intergovernmental bodies. 

Applying lessons learned from EFA I, GCE pushed successfully for EFA II to have new money available for EFA, in the form of the Fast Track Initiative or FTI. It also succeeded in having a distinct follow-up mechanism set up – the High Level Group, though this has not been consistently high level. The annual EFA report is another useful tool for continuing advocacy.

It would be nice if Confintea VI results in something similar. But I don’t think we can set up another global coalition like GCE to pursue the campaign for adult learning and education. What we could do is to strengthen the section of GCE that focuses on Goal 3 and Goal 4 of EFA, which are about reducing adult literacy by half, and providing appropriate learning opportunities for youth and adults. These are relatively neglected goals, and need extra effort and emphasis.

The proposal to have an adult learners’ charter and a global network of adult learners can mobilize additional energies for our campaign. I have asked E-Net and other education advocacy groups in the Philippines to devote special effort to organizing parents both for their own learning needs, and to help their children.

The day after the conference at DepEd, I traveled with the ELF staff to the gathering of electric cooperatives and the National Electrification Administration, NEA. That introduced them to another arena for adult learning and education – on renewable energy, climate change, and consumer advocacy. We hope to mobilize these new energies for the campaign for adult learning and education in the Philippines.