Biography of a
Prominent Filipino
Chapter 4: Lesson 2 Readings in Philippine History
• This presentation was about the two prominent people
in our country which is the Philippines, who fought for
the rights of the people and society.
• We will be able to know their struggles and
perseverance to attain their goals.
The story about the slaying of Kalinga chief Macli-ing Dulag and his people’s
opposition to the Chico River Dam Project is now deeply carved on the mountains of
the Cordillera. It unleased the torrent and exposed a corrupt and cruel
establishment.
Macli-ing Dulag
(Kalinga Brave)
By. Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
• This is a story about a man and his people, a story about
courage and defiance.
• It continues to be told again and again; it will always be part of
the lore of the land as long as the rivers freely flow and the one
trees grow in that fertile vastness that Macli-ing fiercely guarded
with his spear with his soul.
• Macli-ing fought for their lands and people against the Project
Chico Dam during the presidency of Late Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
THE PANGAT
• Who was this Apo Pangat Macli-ing Dulag? To the
elders of the Butbut tribe, their leader was the following
and more.
“He protested against the dam because he knew that if it pushed
through, our rice terraces and villages would be flooded, and our
culture would be lost.”
“He was uncompromising in his stand, even in front of government
military authorities.”
“He did not hesitate to lose a day's work to settle disputes among his
people.”
Pangat - Leader
• Like many Kalinga elders, Macli-ing was not able to
have any formal schooling.
• He had not learned to read and write but he could sign
his name.
• But he was elected barrio captain of his village of
Bugnay while serving at the government's Kalinga
Special Development Region (KSDR) projects and was
reelected for two more terms.
• There are no records to establish the date of Macli-ing's
birth.
• But a contemporary of Macli-ing had been reported as
saying that the late pangat had served as a porter to
guerrilla fighters during the Japanese occupation in the
1940s and that he must have been in his early twenties
at that time.
• So when Macli-ing was murdered in 1981, he must have
been in his late fifties.
• Until the time when death came so violently for him, Macli-ing
was unflinching in his struggle against the dam.
• He foresaw that the hydroelectric dam would bring havoc to his
people.
• He perceived that the dam which the government planned to
put up would not only destroy their age-old culture and source
of livelihood.
• He also believed that they, the Kalingas, would not really be the
beneficiaries of the electrification, but the foreigners and local
businessmen.
TRIBAL LEADER
• Macli-ing was already a noted
leader in Bugnay and several
villages inhabited by Butbuts.
• Violent tribal conflicts in those
parts were not rare and
Macli-ing was often needed
to help settle these.
• In fact he was himself a
bloody victim of these
disputes.
• Sometime in the 1970s when the Butbuts and the tribe in
Sadanga were trying to settle blood debts, Macli-ing was
stabbed and almost lost his life.
• During the negotiation where military men were present, a
man lunged at Macli-ing and stabbed him several times.
• The attacker was the father of the man from Sadanga who
was killed by the Butbuts. Bloody tribal wars were not
uncommon but they could be settled through peace pacts
or bodongs.
LAND OF
KABUNIAN
• The political and tribal
relationship among tribes in
Kalinga are governed by the
pagta ti bodong (laws of the
peace pact).
• The bodong, a peace pact
between tribes, seals an
agreement that will assure
them of peace and order
among the tribes and non-
violation of each other's rights.
Kabunian – supreme God of the universe.
• It is a covenant of peace forged in a festive atmosphere
with wine, dance and song.
• This time-tested rite has been, for tribes such as the
Butbuts, a key to their stability and security. Macli-ing
played a pivotal role in many peace pacts.
• The tribes in the mountains of Kalinga and Bondoc are known to be
economically self-sufficient.
• Their agricultural system has survived for generations. Their rice terraces
erected with bare hands stone by stone, and their irrigation system are
engineering wonders.
• These, plus the bounty of nature that surrounds them-the fruit trees, the river,
the wild animals-have provided them with their needs.
• There is no usury. There are no usurers. They borrow
and lend money without interest.
• They even maintain a common granary. The tribes in
Kalinga and Bontoc are better equipped to cope with life
than those who live in the so-called City of Man.
• But the earth is looked upon not only as a source of
food. To them the land is sacred. The god Kabunian has
gifted them with the land. They must be good stewards
of the earth and its gifts.
• Thus in their songs and dances, in the plaintive sound
of the nose flute, in their folklore and art, one can see
the many facets of their life-birth and death, food,
fertility, war, work-all in a beautiful interweaving of
everything that spells out their Asian Tao.
• To the Kalingas and the Bontocs, the Chico Dam
Project was a threat on their lives. To say that they are
resistant to change or progress is to misjudge them.
• One has to take into consideration their lifestyle- the
economic, agricultural, cultural, political, religious and
ecological systems that they refuse to exchange for
1,010 megawatts of electricity.
THE DAM TO DAM
• The Chico River Basin Development
Project was conceived by the
Philippine government in 1965.
• In 1973, the German firm Lahmeyer
International, in collaboration with the
Engineering and Development
Corporation of the Philippines
(EDCOP), submitted its Technical
Pre-Feasibility Study of the
Hydroelectric Development of the
Chico River. The World Bank was
tapped to fund the project.
• Four dams, projected to generate 1,010 megawatts of
electricity, I would cover the total catchment area of the
Chico River, from its headwaters on Mount Data to Dam
IV in Tomiangan.
• The river is the Cordillera's longest and most elaborate
river system. The project would cover an area of 1,400
square kilometers.
• The watershed area would include the Kalinga
municipalities of Tinglayan, Lubuangan, Pasil and parts
of Tabuk in the Mountain Province. The municipalities of
Sabangan, Sagada, Sadanga, Bontoc and portions of
Bauko and Barlig would also be affected.
• The estimated population which would be affected was
placed at 100,000.
• These dam sites were identified as technically feasible:
• Chico I in Sabangan, Mountain Province (100 megawatts)
• Chico II also in Sadanga, Mountain Province (360
megawatts)
• Chico III in Basao, Kalinga-Apayao (100 megawatts) and
• Chico IV in Tomiangan, Kalinga- Apayao (450 megawatts)-
all for a total of 1,010 megawatts, equivalent to two nuclear
power plants.
• Chico Dam IV alone, which was top priority, being the
biggest of the four, was expected to directly submerge
six villages in Kalinga and render at least a thousand
families homeless.
• This was not to mention the P31,500,000 worth of rice
lands that would be washed away.
• Rice lands worth P38,250,000 owned by the families from
Lubuagan, Dangtalan, Guinnang and Naneng, also in Kalinga,
would all be lost.
• Chico Dam IV alone would displace more than 5,000 Kalingas
from tha land they have called their own for generations.
• This did not yet include the 1,200 terraces, the 500 hectares of
fruit trees and the national roads.
• Expected to be lost in this area alone were some P13 million
worth of produce (based on 1972 prices).
• The members of the tribes resented the fact that they were never
consulted about the multimillion-peso project.
• They prevented the National Power Corporation (Napocor) from
implementing anything without any dialogue with the people first.
• The tribes themselves tried to send a delegation to higher
authorities, only to be dismissed as "too sentimental" by their own
governor, Amado Almazan.
• They were 10 promised relocation and payment for properties
damaged or lost.
• But Macli-ing declared:
"I say to you, the question of the dams is more
than political. The question is life-our Kalinga life. Apo
Kabunian, the Lord of us all, gave us this land. It is
sacred, nourished by our sweat. It shall become even
more sacred when it is nourished by our blood." Death
did not daunt him.
• Aware of the escalating opposition to the dam project, the
government ordered the temporary suspension of all operations at
the three dam sites.
• Napocor personnel and equipment were also pulled out. This was
only a temporary lull however, for not long after, the Presidential
Assistance on National Minorities (Panamin) came to organize the
KSDR.
• The Kalingas and the Bontocs viewed the presence of the Panamin,
KSDR and Napocor with suspicion. For them, these agencies were
there to neutralize the opposition to Chico IV."
MILITARIZATION
• In the midst of all these developments, the
pangat of the Butbuts gained a deeper
insight into their problems.
• While initially Macli-ing was focused on his
tribe, the compounding problems related
to the proposed dams slowly made him
view things from a broader perspective.
• He saw their problems as closely linked to other
national problems that beset the little people.
• His zeal led him to the relocation centers in
Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija and to the areas where the
uprooted people from the Binga and Ambuklao dams of
Benguet were resettled.
• He even saw the problems of the squatters of Tondo as
linked to the problems of his tribe. Many poor, displaced
people had nowhere to go but the congested cities.
FACING A COMMON ENEMY
• To Macli-ing, the people's struggle had become his own.
The struggle led him to many places to meet many
people.
• This meant confrontations and dialogues with high
authorities. This even caused his detention in 1977.
• Macli-ing, along with sixteen Bugnay villagers, was
picked up and brought to the PC stockade in Bulanao
where they were detained for two months. Before that,
two waves of arrests were carried out by the military.
• But repression made the Kalingas even more resolute.
Quipped Macli-ing: "If your head is soft, they (the
military) will continue knocking it. You have to be
hard."15 Undaunted, Macli-ing led another bodong in
December 1978.
BLOODY
NIGHT
It was the day after their to-or
(holiday) and most of the villagers were
asleep early. The time was around ten
at night. From the direction of Lower
Chico River the sound of approaching
vehicles was heard. On board the two
Ford Fieras with their headlights turned
off were men in uniform. Dogs started
barking. Minutes later, the men in
uniform rapped on the door of Macli-
ing’s house.
What happened on the night of April 24, 1980?
“Macli-ing come out” the men shouted. Macli-ing shouted:
“Whatever it is you want of me, let us talk about it in the morning
light.” The men did not enter, but one of them struck the door
ajar. Macli-ing closed the door and asked his wife to hold on to it
while he fixed the lock. He then put on the light. The uniformed
men, upon seeing Macli-ing’s feet through the slit below, fired at
the door. It was instant death for the pangat.
Macli-ing was fatally hit in the left breast
and in the right pelvis. He sustained ten bullet
wounds then died instantly, his blood staining the
walls of his home.
At that very same night, other men in
uniform went to the house of Pedro Dungoc,
another village leader. One of men shouted “Open
up or we will spray your house with bullets” Pedro’s
wife open the door. “is your husband in?” the men
demanded to know. Pedro’s wife pointed where
Pedro was sleeping with his children. One of them
came in and fired at a rolled blanket thinking that it
was Pedro. Pedro’s wrist was hit?
Before the uniformed men left the
village, they fired at random into the air. One of
the villagers who was out working on his
irrigation canals saw the men leave. He counted
at least ten men in uniform. In the morning
combat boot prints were found leading out of the
village. Empty shells were recovered outside
Macli-ing’s house. The bullets had been fired
from the Browning automatic rifle and M-16
Armalites.
A few days later, Macli-ing was buried.
He was laid to rest not in sitting position which
was customary. Only the women wept. The men
did not cast a glance at his body nor wept for
him, because it was a death that came from
fellow human beings and their anger was deeper
than their sorrow.
• Several months before he was killed, Macli-ing made the following
protestations before government officials including Napocor head Gabriel
Itchon, in a manner reminiscent of the Red Indian Chief's challenge to the
white man:
“If you, in your search for the good life destroy life, we question it. We say that those who
need electric lights are not thinking of us who are bound to be destroyed. Or will the need
for electric power be a reason for our death? Your proposal of building dams along our
river will mean the destruction of all our properties on which our very life depends. We
Kalingas were once known for our well-kept peace, but your dam project has brought
only trouble among us. We therefore ask you, forget your dams, we don't want them”
• To the Butbuts, the pangat is now part of the mountains,
the river, the payaos. (raft used to attract and catch fish in Southeast Asia, particularly in
the Philippines)
• He is among the guardian spirits, watching over his
people.
• Eventually the government gave up the Chico River
Basin Project and the Chico River and its tributaries
continued to flow unhampered through its ancient
course, the course it had chosen to follow when time
began.
Regina “Gina” Lopez
• Regina Paz "Gina" La'O López (December
27, 1953 – August 19, 2019) was a Filipino
environmentalist, politician and
philanthropist.
• She was Secretary of
the Philippines' Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) under
President Rodrigo Duterte from June 2016
through May 2017.
• She was the Chairperson of the Pasig River
Rehabilitation Commission from August 2010
until her death in August 2019 during
the Benigno Aquino III and Duterte
presidencies. Lopez was born in Manila.
• Lopez died of multiple organ failure caused
by brain cancer at a hospital in Makati on
August 19, 2019 at the age of 65
• Gina Lopez, a former environment secretary of the
Philippines and ardent activist against destructive
mining practices, has died at the age of 65.
• Working with civil society groups, Lopez led a
grassroots movement that spurred an executive order
from the president to ban new mining permits.
• She continued this work during her brief time in office,
leading a massive audit of all mining operations in the
country, canceling scores of contracts and closing
nearly two dozen mines.
• A longtime chair of the ABS-CBN Foundation, she also
established a helpline to rescue abused children and
provided financial assistance and training to rural
communities in developing ecotourism initiatives.
• Regina “Gina” Lopez was born Dec. 27, 1953, into the
prominent Lopez family behind ABS-CBN, the
Philippines biggest media conglomerate.
• The family also has holdings in natural gas. Lopez was
a longtime chair of the ABS-CBN Foundation Inc. (AFI),
where she established a helpline to rescue abused
children, an initiative that won the United Nations Grand
Award for Excellence in 1997.
• Lopez was best known for fighting against destructive
mining practices in her country, a crusade that spanned
roles in both the private and public sector.
• In 2010, she joined
forces with the Palawan
NGO Network Inc.
(PNNI) to establish the
Save Palawan
Movement, a coalition of
grassroots civil society
organizations that
pushed for a total mining
ban on the island of
Palawan, home to an
underground river and
cave system that’s a
UNESCO World Heritage
Site.
• She initiated an anti-mining petition that garnered a
landmark 10 million signatures, and by 2012, then-
President Benigno Aquino Jr. issued an executive order
banning new mining permits.
• President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Lopez as his
cabinet secretary for the environment and natural
resources in June 2016.
• Once in office, she led a massive audit of all mining
operations in the country, cancelled the approval of 75
proposed mines in watershed areas, ordered the
closure of 26 mines for environment violations, and
suspended five other contracts.
• But her tenure was short-lived; less than a year later, in
May 2017, the congressional Commission on
Appointments overturned her appointment, amid issues
over her controversial policies and alleged
incompetence, CNN Philippines reported at the time.
• Under her leadership,
the foundation also
supported the
rehabilitation of the La
Mesa watershed and
the Pasig River, as
well as provided
financial assistance
and training to rural
communities in
developing ecotourism
initiatives.
• She established Bantay
Kalikasan, for which she
received the 1997
International Public
Relations Award of
Excellence for the
Environment and
outstanding Manilans
Award for the
Environment, 2009.
• She produced educational
television shows on
Science, Math, Values,
History and English for
elementary and Philippine
Literature for high school.
• For Sine'skwela, Ms.
Lopez was honored with
the UNESCo Kalinga
Award, the first Southeast
Asian to earn such a
distinction.
Reference:
• https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/philippine-eco-warrior-gina-
lopez-who-battled-mines-dies-at-65/
