Cultural Practices and Values towards Education of Ilianen Manobo of Brgy. Lampayan, Matalam, North Cotabato ()
1. Introduction
Philippines is a multicultural country that contains a variety of ethnic groups, including the Manobo or “menuvu”. The majority of Manobo (menuvu) may be found in Mindanao, particularly in Central Mindanao, where they continue to live simply and traditionally. The Manobo minority groups are made up of various subgroups. Ilianen Manobo, one of the Manobo tribes in North Cotabato, must be acknowledged for their cultural practices because of their distinct ways and techniques and since they belong to the Manobo tribe with Obo and Arumanen Manobo. According to the Philippine Constitution of 1987, the government must acknowledge, respect, and uphold the rights of the indigenous population to maintain and advance their cultures, traditions, and institutions.
Additionally, every cultural group, including Ilianen Manobo, has a responsibility to express itself, ensure its participation, and provide feedback about education, particularly considering the government’s numerous initiatives to ensure that the cultural group receives an inclusive education. Every IP group, regardless of differences in cultural beliefs and practices, is entitled to a basic education, just like every other citizen of the nation. Since the world is changing quickly and there is a huge requirement for everyone to keep up with the cycle of globalization, the Philippine government is persuading and pushing the Indigenous People community to pursue their education. To uphold this clause, the government-built schools in the neighborhoods of minority groups to guarantee that they received a good foundational education. Individuals of the IP groups who have gained from the educational programs as a result, particularly those who have earned higher degrees, have discovered new knowledge and trust as Indigenous people to succeed in the modern world. They now have a platform from which to advocate for their rights to normal life and social integration (Soriano & Sandoval, 2007) .
However, there is article that shows how mainstream education affects the culture of the indigenous people in general. In many regions of the world such as Philippines, formal education has historically been utilized as a weapon for assimilation of indigenous peoples by government or religious denominations. Indigenous youngsters were trained to become fully integrated members of mainstream national society through education. This sometimes led to the extinction of indigenous languages and traditions, with worst-case situations being forced evacuation from their communities and/or enrolment in residential schools, where rampant abuse occurred.
To improve the learning resources available to IP communities and the educational system in general, the Deped Order Number 62, series of 2011, also known as the National Indigenous People Educational Framework, ordered research and activities on minority groups to learn about their fascinating history, knowledge, practices, and other aspects of cultural heritage.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Cultural Practices
Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Also, Spencer-Oatey (2012) stated that culture was a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientation to life, beliefs, policies, procedures, and behavioral conventions that were shared by a group of people that influenced each member’s behavior and his/her interpretations of the meaning of other people’s behavior. Thus, culture is the way of learning to live in a society that can be learned not inherited. It was derived from one’s social movement, not from one’s genes. Culture should be distinguished from human nature on one side and an individual’s personality on the other, although exactly what the borders lie between human nature and culture and between culture and personality.
2.2. Economic Practices
According to the International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, Volume 6 as cited by Masendo (2015) , the most common lifestyle of the Manobo was that of rural agriculture. Unfortunately, their farming methods were very primitive. Some of the farmers have incorporated plowing techniques, while others have continued to use the “slash-and-burn” method. Other Manobo living in other areas of the province uses a farming system called kaingin, which is a procedure wherein fields were allowed to remain fallow for certain periods so that areas of cultivation may be shifted from place to place.
Moreover, Galicia (2017) stated that the Manóbo made their living through farming, fishing, hunting, and trapping. They cleared a patch of the primeval forest, and his women folk clean off the brush, sought broadcast a little rice, planted camotes, some taro, maize, and sugarcane. As the rice crop was seldom sufficient for the sustenance of their household, the Manóbo must rely also on the camote for their maintenance. Traditionally, the tribe was dependent on what nature can provide to them. Agriculture was the source of living of the tribe, and they used kaingin as their farming technique. While they were waiting for the harvest time, men left the community and went to the forest to hunt wild animals, do the bee hunting and trapping; these became their subsistence while women stayed in the community and take good care of the field (Aguila et al., 2009) .
2.3. Political Practices
As cited by Masendo (2015) , the position of chieftainship or being a datu can be passed on to a datu’s offspring, as long as the person has the qualifications necessary to position: wisdom, knowledge of traditional practices and mythology, articulateness, skill in inoffensive language, fairness in judging or arbitrating disputes, and possession of some wealth and property that the person must be willing to share with the whole community.
In the study of Garvan (1931) cited by Tomaquin (2013) entitled Manobo of Mindanao he stated that the Manóboland is divided into districts, extensive, which were the property of the different clans. Each district is under the nominal leadership of the warrior chiefs and of the more influential men. In a time of peace these districts were open to everybody, but in time of war and wars were formerly very frequent only persons of tried friendship are permitted to enter. A clan consists of a chief whose authority is merely nominal, and of several his relatives varying from 20 to perhaps 200 souls. The whole system was patriarchal, no coercion being used unless it is sanctioned by the more influential members, approved by the consensus of the people, and in accord with traditional custom.
2.4. Spiritual Practices
According to Petrola (2017) , the lives of the Manobo tribe revolved always in the belief that unseen spirits were interfering with the activities of humans. They believed that spirits could speak to them through the medium which is the baylan. Unseen spirits were both good and evil and can be evoked to anger and to pleasure. Members of the tribe can call upon their spirits as helpers, intermediaries between people and power and a teacher. Acquiring and maintaining the right relationship with this aspect of the spirit world can constitute a sacred partnership.
According to the study of the Aguila (2009) entitled Manobo of the Philippines it stated that the religious beliefs of the Manobo revolved around the concept that many unseen spirits interfere in the lives of humans. They believed that these spirits could intrude on human activities to accomplish their desires.
2.5. Social Practices
Belanger (2011) as cited by Suazo & Montenegro (2018) , the Preliminary Assessment on Aboriginal Policy in Canada cited Article 14 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) remarked that indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their languages. It is done in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning Education was a social institution responsible for the systematic transmission of knowledge, skills, and cultural values within a formally organized structure. According to the book of Zaide (2006) entitled The Philippines a unique nation, the children in the ancient Philippines were given the rudiments of education. Such education was both academic and vocational. The father trained his sons to be warriors, hunters, fishermen, miners, lumbermen, and shipbuilders. The mother trained her daughters in cooking, gardening, sewing, and other household arts. The Manobo people have aspired, dreamed, and desired to be educated. They view education as an important tool to improve their living conditions by pursuing economic, social, and cultural development (Masendo, 2015) . The Manobo realized that there will be greater opportunities for them if they were educated. To them, educating themselves will concomitantly reduce their illiteracy and increase their productivity (Abejuela & Gabriel, 2007) . Moreover, education was seen by many as a necessary component of the Manobos’ assertion for self-determination (Alejo, 2000) .
According to Aguila et al. (2009) , the Manobo people lived a semi-nomadic life and settlements were generally kin-oriented nuclear groups near the swidden fields located on the ridges. Some communities have longhouses. The communities were widely dispersed and placed on high ridges above mountain drainage systems. In some areas, some longhouses accommodated several families, usually of an extended kind. Settlements were either dispersed or relatively compact, depending on the terrain, the agricultural system practiced, and the degree of acculturation.
According to United Nations (2016) , there was a significant educational divide between indigenous and mainstream populations, with indigenous peoples lagging in terms of educational opportunities and access, retention and completion rates, and overall achievement. The education sector is a unique arena that not only echoes and condenses indigenous peoples’ historical mistreatment, discrimination, and marginalization, but also represents their ongoing battle for equity and justice, as well as acknowledgment and respect for their rights.
As stated by the International Labour Organization (2020) , the global workforce, 47% of indigenous peoples have no schooling, compared to 17% of non-indigenous counterparts. Furthermore, more than 86% of indigenous peoples in the world labor in the informal economy, compared to 66% of non-indigenous counterparts.
To reply to this appeal, this research attempts to investigate the educational practices and accessibility of the Ilianen Manobo and their values towards education and preservation of traditional traditions in education to answer the gap between the present education opportunity in the tribal community and equity of the indigenous people by integrating it indigenous educational and cultural setting despite of the modernization of the world.
Thus, this research would like to: 1) to determine the significant relationship between the cultural practices and values towards education of the Ilianen Manobo; 2) Determine their cultural practices in the community; 3) Determine the extent of their values on the cultural practices and lastly; 4) Identify their cultural preservations on their cultural practices.
3. Methodology
The descriptive and ethnographic methods of research were used in this study. Descriptive research was used in the study because the researcher would like to gather quantifiable information that can be used to statistical analysis from the population by using questionnaires and interviews. Ethnographic methods were also used because the researcher wanted to explore the cultural phenomenon in the community through observation and from the direct view of the point of the subject in the study.
3.1. Respondents, Sampling and Setting
A Cochran Formula were employed to determine the number of respondents with a precision level of 3% and a confidence level of 95% from the total 236 manobo population in the area. There were 176 Ilianen Manobo as respondents which from the indigenous people’s community of Sitio Pangipasan, Brgy. Lampayan, Matalam, Cotabato.
A simple random sampling was employed in distribution of questionnaires. The data for the study were gathered through a self-made survey questionnaire and an interview. The respondents were aged 15 and above because they can answer the questions and have the direct experience on their cultural practices so that information being gathered were help the researcher to extract reliable and right information needed in the study. Before that, the researcher asked consent to the parent of minor respondents aged from 15 - 17 years old to be part of the study.
3.2. Research Instrument and Data Processing
Before the conduct, the researcher had a validation of the questionnaire to the 3 experts in the field of social research. A pre-survey of the questionnaire in the Manobo community of Brgy. Minamaing and Brgy. Sta Maria, Matalam, North Cotabato have been done to determine the validity of the questionnaire. The validations have undergone a test and re-test. The questionnaire was pre-tested to 30 Manobo in another barangay. One week after, the questionnaire was administered to the same respondents. The results were subjected to a correlation which resulted in r = 0.82. The questionnaires were distributed by the researcher with the help of the National Commission on Indigenous People’s (NCIP) Provincial Personnel. They were informed 1 week before the prior conduct of the study. The survey questionnaire has three parts that composed of sociodemographic information about the respondents, questions about Ilianen Manobo cultural practices with four rating scales (always practiced, frequently practiced, rarely practiced, and no longer practiced), and questions about values with four rating scales (greater extent, moderate extent, limited extent, and least extent). There were 100% response rate during the 2 days conduct of the study. Lastly, Focus Group Discussion is also done on the 50 Ilianen Manobo which taken from the total 176 respondents. As to number of participants, there were 10 elders, 10 youth, 10 female adults, 10 male adults and 10 council members because the researcher would like to gather different ideas and perceptions from the participants to achieve the purpose of this study through interpretation and transcribing of the information.
Data taken were systematically tabulated and analyzed. Both descriptive and inferential statistics, frequency, percentage distribution and mean were applied in the study.
4. Results and Discussions
4.1. Socio-Demographics Profile
As reflected in Table 1, 76% or 43.18% of the respondents were youth that aged from 15 to 30 years old while 77% or 43.75% were adult aged from 31 to 50 years old and 23% or 13.07% were elders aged from 50 and above. Respondents were 88% or 50% female and 88% or 50% male. Most of the respondents were Elementary Level with 76 (43.18%), 59 (33.52%) were Secondary level, 11 (6.25%)
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Table 1. Socio-Demographic profile of respondents.
did not have formal education, 10 (5.68%) were Elementary graduate, 10 (5.68%) were College level, 8 (4.55%) are Secondary graduate and lastly, 2 (1.14%) were college graduate.
4.2. Cultural Practices of Ilianen Manobo
It is reflected in Table 2 that fishing, and farming are often practice as the main source of livelihood of Ilianen Manobo with 2.90 and 2.78 mean respectively. Hunting is seldom practiced with a mean of 2.35. This means that the Ilianen Manobo did not rely on the hunting method because of the availability of the resources like wild boar and monkey in the area is only a few and slowly decreasing. According to Lucero (2020) Fishing, hunting, bee hunting, and trapping are other important subsistence activities. The Manobo have a seminomadic lifestyle because of their jobs. However, the loss of forest cover because of rapid resource extraction by huge enterprises has drastically impacted hunting activity.
Table 3 shows that Ilianen Manobo always practice the selling of bananas and root crops from farming and selling of rice and corn products as source of their income with a mean of 3.50. This means that those crops they harvested and where they can get their income is abundant and arable on the area because they are located on the hillside. Moreover, Ilianen Manobo educates them by thinking more ways in making a sustainable livelihood like establishing a farmer’s
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Table 2. Cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of livelihood.
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Table 3. Cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of source of income.
association in the area so that in times of emergency, they can easily access the programs of the government and they will not suffer famine. Selling of honey and meat of wild animals from hunting seldom practices with a mean of 2.30 because aside from decreasingly availability of the resources, the hunter faces hazards, such as the tree catches fire catching fire or the bees or wild animals’ attack.
As Oxfam (2012) affirmed that project implementation aims to increase household food security, strengthen community governance, and empower women within a group of indigenous peoples.
Table 4 shows that the cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of education is often practice with a mean of 3.24. This means that the value was broadly and visibly used and sometimes practices the culture. The Ilianen Manobo already realizes that education is a need in the present time. They are aspired, dreamed, and desired to be educated. They view education as an important tool to improve their living conditions by pursuing economic, social, and cultural development. Education is seen by the Manobo’s as a necessary component of their assertion for self-determination (De Villa-Gosadan & Rayan, 2018) .
In terms participation in community activities, Table 5 shows that Ilianen Manobo are participating in planning with 3.20 mean and followed by participating in implementation and monitoring with 3.10 mean. This means that the Ilianen Manobo’s were actively involved in all processes in the community in connection to their community and cultural development like consultations on the problems arises and finding solutions on it. Their access to education helped them to be aware of their rights and functions as a member of a tribal community.
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Table 4. Cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of education.
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Table 5. Cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of participation in community activities.
As Williams (2004) affirmed that cultural evaluation and transformation activities might be considered “indispensable” to community development. However, their conceptualization and application are still in their early stages.
Table 6 shows that Ilianen Manobo often practice the settlements with 2.80 mean. And most of the respondents always practice the living together with kins. This means that Ilianen Manobo’s was generally a kin-oriented group. Some have long houses in the community where can accommodate several families, usually of an extended kind. According to Aguila et al. (2009) , the Manobo people lived a semi-nomadic life and settlements were generally kin-oriented nuclear groups. However, the educated Ilianen Manobo’s started to establish a house with a nuclear family but still value the importance of extended family.
In Table 7, the cultural Practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of Political Practices is always practiced with a mean of 3.50. This means that the value is very common and used and strongly practices the culture. Among the political practices, Selecting the chief is based on personal qualifications is always practiced with 3.70 means. This shows that they are giving much priority to the selection of the leader or their chieftain in the tribal through having good value and personal identity. As cited by Masendo (2015) , the position of chieftainship or being a datu can be passed on to a datu’s offspring, if the person has the qualifications
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Table 6. Cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of settlements.
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Table 7. Cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of political.
necessary to position: wisdom, knowledge of traditional practices and mythology, articulateness, skill in inoffensive language, fairness in judging or arbitrating disputes, and possession of some wealth and property that the person must be willing to share with the whole community.
As shown in Table 8, Cultural Practices of Ilianen Manobo in Terms of Beliefs is often practiced with a mean of 3.20. This means that the value is broadly and clearly used and sometimes practices the culture. Among the beliefs, most of the Ilianen Manobo always practices the indigenous healing practices with a mean of 3.60. This means that it has very much extensively and used and strongly practices the culture. This means that Ilianen Manobo still practices their traditional method of healing the sick which through sacrificing animals to appease the angry spirit that makes the individual sick. Tomaquin (2013) cited that spirit mediums can only heal illness caused by a member of a class of spiritual beings compatible with human interventions, whereas victims of anti-social sorcery must be treated with other methods involving magical substances and talismans.
As reflected in Table 9, the values of Ilianen Manobo towards their cultural
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Table 8. Cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo in terms of beliefs.
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Table 9. Values of the Ilianen Manobo towards cultural practices.
practices have a greater extent with a mean of 3.45. This means that the Ilianen Manobo strongly value the cultural practices they have. It was shown on the table that the political practices have the most valued practices with 3.59 mean. This means that Ilianen Manobo values their traditional political system as they illustrate close family ties and kinship-bound social structures govern their social conduct. This shows that the Ilianen Manobo community demonstrates respect by listening to others especially their elders, valuing cultural traditions and seeking direction on how to implement culture. Thus, Felix (2004) affirmed that the Manobo tribe’s Indigenous judicial system aims to promote harmony among community members and is founded on the ideas of collective indemnity and communal solidarity.
Table 10 shows that the analysis of the relationship between cultural practices and value towards the education of Ilianen Manobo is carried out by calculating the degree of relationship represented by r = 0.54. It reveals that there is a moderate relationship between cultural practices and values towards education. Extending the analysis of the test the significance of r = 0.54 at ᶑ = 0.05 level of significance. It obtained t-computed of 8.48 which is greater than t-tabular = 1.66. The results declared that r-0.54 is too different from zero. It is evident that although the relationship is moderate but still significant. This implies that as of this time, the cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo moderately affect their values towards education. It means that it is possible for them that strengthening of cultural practices would redound to increase in values towards education.
According to the study of Ordinario (2012) , she stated that Ilianen Manobo stayed with their primitive culture, traditions, and practices. However, they are also open-minded to accept all the changes that may take place within the community. They are ready to accept what is new if it helps them to uplift their condition. Education is one way to make them educated and socialized. Through education, they are not now kept hidden with their place, but they came out and do mingling with other people out of their culture and tradition and are comfortable as a member of the society.
This means that Manobo who has education can improve their lives and their culture, and they will realize how important education on their culture at present.
The Philippine Constitution of 1987, Chapter 1, section 2, mentioned that the state shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of the indigenous people and to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions, and institution. In Republic Act (RA) 8371, known as Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, defined indigenous people as a group of homogenous society, who have continuously lived as an organized community on communally bounded and possessed land used as their abode, sharing common bonds of language, customs, culture, traditions, and indigenous religions, become historically differentiated from the rest of the Filipinos. They are the living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants of lands now
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Table 10. Results of the analysis on the relationship between cultural practices and values towards education of Ilianen Manobo.
dominated by others; they are culturally distinct groups that find themselves engulfed by other settler who encroached their lands.
Moreover, on the study conducted in the Ilianen Manobo Community of Brgy. Lampayan, they have many ways in preserving their culture. Most practiced in preserving their culture were the speaking native language in the community, kanduli celebration, wearing of cultural attire and performing activities like festivals as reflected in Table 11.
Masendo (2015) explained that the indigenous knowledge that is passed from generation, usually by word of mouth and cultural rituals and has been the basis for agriculture, food preparation, health care, education, conservation, and the
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Table 11. Methods of preservation of cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo.
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Table 12. Problems encountered by the Ilianen Manobo on the preservation of their cultural practices.
wide range of other activities that sustain the societies in many parts of the world. Today, there is a grave risk that much of the indigenous knowledge is being lost, along with it, valuable knowledge about ways of living sustainably.
In their preservation, most of the respondents can’t deny the fact that they are also facing the problems they encountered to preserve their cultural practices. As shown in Table 12, most of the problems they encountered were bullying and discrimination against the IP’s if they were speaking their native language outside the community, younger generation speaking Bisaya or mainstream language in the area, violation of cultural privacy by taking documentation without permission, Cross Cultural Marriage and least problem were the establishment of missionary congregation in the area.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
Ilianen Manobo culture had stood the test of time, but they are trying their best to stay remain and preserve their culture and pass it on to the next generation and pursue their dreams and aspirations as Tribe. Ilianen Manobo also values their cultural practices like fishing and farming because they are usually located on the hillside where the river and agricultural land area are located. However, hunting in their tribe is decreasing due to the availability of the resources.
Also, Ilianen Manobo still practices the selling of bananas and root crops from farming and selling rice and corn products as a source of their income. They also involved in planning, implementing, and monitoring laws and policies in their community as they strongly value the importance of political practices in their community. Most of the Ilianen Manobo are kin-oriented where they give importance to the close ties of their family. Despite the modern world, they clearly and broadly practice their traditional practices especially on their beliefs and religion even though congregation were established in the community.
In addition, the cultural practices of Ilianen Manobo moderately affect their values towards education. Thus, it is possible for them that strengthening cultural practices would redound to increase in values toward education. also, Ilianen Manobo still seeks and values the importance of education even though the result the others are getting detached from their culture. But they foresee, that education will lift their lives from being low and can defend their rights as indigenous people being aware of their rights.
Furthermore, Ilianen Manobo preserve their cultural practices by means of speaking their language in the community, celebrating a kanduli or thanksgiving, wearing of their cultural dress and performing a tribal festival. But despite of their perseverance to preserve their culture, they encountered many problems such as bullying and discrimination, changing of tribal language to mainstream language, violation of cultural privacy, cross cultural marriage and changing of traditional religion to Catholicism.
It is therefore recommended that the Ilianen Manobo Family, they must continue to preserve their culture and if they were going to change their practices, it must help to develop their lives. To strengthen their cultural sensitivity to the young generation of Manobo’s so that they will strongly value their roots. In addition, to protect their cultural practices especially those sacred and important ones from the outsiders. Lastly, the government should provide a livelihood program for the Manobo’s for them to survive the challenges brought by globalization and modernization in the area.
Acknowledgements
Sincere thanks to those people who took the time to contribute and participate on this study, including the National Commission on Indigenous People-North Cotabato and Region XII and Ilianen Manobo Community for the meaningful ideas and informative data. Also, to the Anonymous reviewers and editors who provided insightful criticism and feedback. Words are not enough to express and show how much the researcher loves and thankful to all the people who became part of the study.