The
Kitanglad Range Natural Park is located in North-Central Bukidnon covering 28
barangays and 47 sitios of Malaybalay City and the Municipalities of
Impasugong, Sumilao, Manolo Fortich, Libona, Baungon, Talakag and Lantapan.
It has an area of 47,270 hectares including the buffer zone and its
highest peak is Mt.
Dulang-dulang, the second highest peak in the Philippines at 2,938 meters above
sea level.
The Census
records 451 households of actual occupants in the buffer zone of Mount
Kitanglad. These have a total of 2,512 members or an average of 5.57 members
per household. The inhabitants of the mountain range are Indigenous
peoples (Lumad) belonging to the
Higaonon, Bukidnon and Talaandig tribes and a small percentage of immigrants
some of whom have intermarriages with tribal settlers. In some parts, customary
practices still hold sway over the people’s daily lives although acculturation
has eroded much of traditional culture.
As livelihood, the people of the area engage in
agriculture, raising livestock and fishing. Root crops are the most widely
grown food crops with 23.6% of the occupants planting it. corn ranks second
(20.7%), followed by coffee (16.3%), fruit trees (12.3%), spices (8%),
sugarcane (6%) and abaca (4.1%). Less than one percent of the occupants grow
rice, tobacco and coconut. These figures would prove that the occupants are
primarily subsistence farmers. Research Institute on Mindanao Cultures (RIMCU)
reports that 81.8% of the occupants raise livestock. Majority or 51.5% raise
chickens, while 24.2% raise cattle. Only a few have pigs (7.8%), carabaos
(7.5%), and horses (7.5%). An even fewer number of the occupants raise ducks
(1.3%) and goats (.2%). RIMCU records that 39.2% of the occupants engage
in fishing in nearby creeks or rivers. But the quantity of their catch is
insignificant and contributes very little to their daily subsistence. A
significant finding is that only 28.6% of the occupants engage in economic
activities other than those mentioned above. Of this number, 11.5% gather
rattan poles, 11.3% weave rattan and bamboo strips into baskets, 2.4% are into
abaca production, 2.7% process raw timber, and 7% trap wild animals.
Only .4% of
the occupants gets drinking water from water faucets. The rest derive it from
creeks (24.8%), streams (20.6%), springs (11.8%), deep wells (4.4%), and
flowing creeks (2%).
A big
majority of 81.6% of the occupants said that there are no schools in their
area. Only 7.3% say they have elementary schools and 11.1% say there are
nursery or preparatory schools. The more telling part is the absence of high
schools, which would explain in part the virtual absence of teenagers in the
buffer zone communities.
These data
were results of previous researches conducted in 1998. It is probably correct
to assume that the thirteen years have changed many things within the area and
the people living in it. The government and other private organizations may
have found ways to improve their economy and education, however the fact that
the culture and traditions of the tribes are in danger of vanishing into
oblivion remains a certain fact.
