Who Said That Indigenous People Are Like Animals

Why ethnic folklore tin can relieve animals' lives

The Visayan leopard cat is an endemic species to the Philippines, and is classed as vulnerable (Credit: Alamy)

A belief system born of ethnic communities in the Philippines could help protect the state'due south endangered species, from leopard cats to deject rats.

In a jeepney travelling through Iloilo city in the Philippines, the commuter hoots the vehicle's horn on an empty street in broad daylight. These brightly decorated buses are known for their speed in the south of Iloilo, simply this driver slows the jeepney right down.

"Why did you hoot the horn?" I ask him. "And why are we slowing down?"

"Nosotros are passing by the mariit tree," he replies in Kinaray-a, one of the local languages.

Office of indigenous wisdom, the "mariit" belief system (pronounced mar-ee-it) is deeply rooted in the relationship of the Filipinos with the environment. It can be traced back to the pre-colonial Filipino practice of animism, or the conventionalities that everything possesses a soul. Mariit stretches back more than 500 years, affecting everything from where buildings are constructed, to how a driver negotiates a stretch of road. Increasingly, information technology is besides existence integrated into nature conservation.

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The Philippines, ane of the xviii mega-biodiverse countries in the world, faces many challenges to its surroundings and its wild fauna, including the development of coal-fired power plants, damming of ecologically important rivers and a persistent illegal wildlife trade, frequently targeting the Philippine pangolin, a critically endangered species, and giant clams. Local conservationists and environmental guards hope working with long-held folk beliefs tin can prove useful in protecting the nature that remains.

Spirits of mariit

But what is mariit, and how tin indigenous knowledge behavior assistance to tackle such problems? The essence of mariit comes down to the conventionalities that every role of nature is inhabited or owned by unseen dwellers. Thus, it should be respected and taken care of. Otherwise, it could have unpleasant results.

"This what our ancestors told us: 'It is non just us – humans – who be in this earth. There are also those that are not visible to our optics. They are the taglugar,'" says Elias Victor, the leader of the Ati community, who are considered start inhabitants of the Philippines. Victor walks to the corner of the house, and places a plate of food intended for the taglugar. "They take care of the source of our nutrient and water. When nosotros swallow, we invite them, as well."

Road signs designate a stretch of road said to be "mari-it" in Iloilo, Philippines (Credit: Arnel Murga)

Taglugar (pronounced tag-loo-gar) is a word in the Hiligaynon language that translates to "of place". Information technology refers to the resident, dweller or owner of a place. In the context of mariit, the taglugar are nature's spirit dwellers. There are many forms that the taglugar are said to take. In bodies of h2o, there are siyokoy, sea creatures that appear to be human only with fish-similar physical advent, and kataw, half-fish and half-human. On land, there are kapre, hairy and cigar-smoking behemothic creatures ordinarily seen smoking on tall copse, and there are duwende, believed to inhabit the soil, that are said to be like modest magical humans.

In the mariit knowledge system, disasters such as famine, drought, flooding, typhoons and earthquakes are sent by the taglugar, Victor says. "These are their wrath," he tells me. He explains these calamities are largely because people no longer respect nature. "They abuse natural resources. They get more than what they need," he says.

Information technology'due south a familiar concept to me. My late grandmother would repeatedly remind me virtually showing respect when going to nature. She would tell me to "say tabi-tabi". The tabi-tabi (literally "excuse me") is an one-time dirge in the Hiligaynon language, which is said when one goes to a place strange place, peculiarly in nature. The full version of the chant roughly translates to: "Alibi me. To those who I would bump into, I apologise considering I cannot see yous."

This courteous Hiligaynon chant is merely one element of mariit. Joyce Colon, professor of history at West Visayas State University who has been studying the history and roles of babaylan, shamans who were powerful figures in pre-colonial times and still accept a presence in the Philippines today. "The babaylans served as community leaders and healers. They draw their mystical power from nature and their taglugar friends," says Colon, citing historical accounts.

A member of the Ati indigenous community sells amulets and ointments containing parts of trees and rocks in Iloilo (Credit: Arnel Murga)

A fellow member of the Ati indigenous community sells amulets and ointments containing parts of trees and rocks in Iloilo (Credit: Arnel Murga)

Despite many threats to its existence, such as Westernisation, faith, and the lack of regard for indigenous cultures, mariit continues to live on in the local community of Western Visayas.

Alice Magos, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of the Philippines Visayas Miag-ao, has studied the concept of mariit on Panay isle since the 1970s. Mariit places are considered "danger zones" by the locals, she says, because these are inhabited by nature's spirits. This has been attributed to the communal experience of danger or frequent accidents in the place.

Every bit a class of respect and courtesy, the local customs members perform fishing and farming rituals to ask permission from or bear witness gratitude to the taglugar. Though mariit has protected nature from exploitation, Magos laments that "the disrespect resulting in the destruction of the natural environs is an effect of Western traditions imposed on the indigenous communities".

'Danger zones'

The first wildlife and conservation park in Western Visayas is in Lambunao, Iloilo, and it has mariit at its heart. "There were then many names that we idea of when we're near to start the park," says Lucia Lastimoza, who was the founding plan manager of the park. She and her colleagues initially thought of naming it Threatened Species Center. "But information technology was generic," she says. Lastimoza wanted to contain culture, something that would resonate with the local people. The conversation gave rise to the Mariit Wildlife and Conservation Park.

The park currently serves as a refuge for at least 62 threatened and critically endangered animals that are endemic to the region, such as the Visayan warty hog, the Visayan leopard cat and the Panay cloud rat. The animals hither take been rescued from threats such equally habitat loss and wildlife trafficking. Lastimoza says that mariit has been able to support conservation efforts at the park. "It contributes to sustainable development because it ensures the availability of resources for future generations," she says.

The Visayan warty pig, pictured here in captivity, is critically endangered with population numbers on the decline in the wild (Credit: Alamy)

In the sea, as well equally on land, mariit is aiding conservation efforts. Off the island of Guimaras, Taklong Isle Marine Natural Reserve, a national marine sanctuary and protected area, serves equally convenance grounds for various fish species caught exterior its boundary. It is ane of the major marine protected areas that supply the seafood demand in the land. Information technology covers more than 1,000 hectares (three.9 square miles) including mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs of rich biodiversity. A comprehensive ridge-to-reef scientific arroyo to conservation has been promising, but the conventionalities in mariit has besides enhanced the protection efforts.

"Cases of illegal line-fishing activities and cut of mangroves are very rare," says Rhett Arhur Diana, a senior conservationist at the Section of Environment and Natural Resource. "That is because the community members hither care for the island every bit mariit," he says. "They respect the taglugar. This island never runs out of fish."

Banong Villaruz, a member of the local sea guard group tasked to look afterwards the island, says that he often sees the taglugar on the island. He believes that the villagers' fish catch depends on their relationship with the nature spirit dwellers. "If the taglugar are happy with the people, they provide a proficient catch," says Villaruz. "If they accept been angered considering of abuse of the environs, then the fisherfolk will exist punished – they will have less or no fish to catch, endangered at sea, or get ill."

The local bounding main guards received training from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in how to protect threatened endemic species, including stingrays, sharks and molluscs. Function of that has involved designating several sea caves and islets in the marine reserve as off-limits, which has been made possible because of the conventionalities that they are mariit. "These species belong not to us. They are owned by the taglugar," says Villaruz. "Nosotros are not willing to take the risk. Nosotros wouldn't know what impairment would return upon us."

When behavior backfire

Advocates of mariit suggest that planting copse believed to be inhabited by spirits in protected areas can ward off people from doing activities that disturb the surround. It might seem like an intuitive approach, but it doesn't e'er work out.

Caroline Ward, a postdoctoral researcher of conservation science at the University of York, studied like folk beliefs in other parts of the world, and their outcome is not always predictable. "We still need to be cautious about embracing these sorts of behavior specifically for conservation outcomes," Ward says. From a practical point of view, she says, these beliefs are not necessarily established with a conservation outcome in mind. There may be unexpected outcomes or parts of the belief system that don't align with conservation goals.

Mature balete trees are thought to be often inhabited by the taglugar spirits according to mariit beliefs; but this does not always help their conservation (Credit: Alamy)

Trees are ane case. Since mariit is attributed mainly to select giant and old trees, the copse are sometimes cutting down while they are young. For instance, balete trees are often uprooted from their natural habitat while young to exist grown equally a bonsai plant, while young mangroves are cut to serve as firewood.

"It's better to cutting these trees while they are young," Otik Facinabao*, a local community fellow member in Baybay Roxas told me. "You tin't do information technology when they are already big. Information technology'south hard, and it might be tardily too because the spirits may already inhabit them."

In Ward'due south research, she and her colleagues recognise that while behavior such as mariit tin can have a positive impact, sometimes they can undermine scientific discipline-based conservation activities. More than importantly, Ward says, there is besides a big upstanding and moral question whether it is right for conservation to pick and choose parts of conventionalities systems that accept a positive conservation impact and ignore others.

And even when they don't backfire, sometimes belief in mariit is not enough to protect a natural expanse. The Jalaur River in Calinog has been dammed despite the resistance from the Panay Bukidnon, an indigenous customs in the region. The dam is expected to put nine indigenous communities at risk and destroy five burial grounds and one sacred site. The Panay Bukidnon strongly condemned the damming of the river. "That river is mariit," says Conrad Cali*, a Panay Bukidnon. "This development is not inclusive. We have been marginalised. This is a disrespect of our culture."

To someone who has grown upward with the stories that surround mariit places, acknowledging the spirits that occupy forest, oceans and the earth is just some other part of life. Only you don't accept to believe in the taglugar to appreciate the cadre beliefs innate to the Philippines' ethnic communities: that nature is something to be respected, and we fail to do and so at our own risk.

* Names have been changed to protect the identities of these contributors.

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