CATHERINE JUN Datu Efrew Mandipensa,
chief of the Higaonao tribe in the Philippines, plays guitar in
Kerckhoff Grand Salon Thursday.
By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Reporter
Datu Efrew Mandipensa once stayed awake for eight days and
nights. On another occasion he slept in the forest amongst monkeys
and snakes.
About 40 students, professors, a tribal chief clad in
traditional costume, and spirits gathered in the Kerckhoff Art
Gallery Thursday night to hear stories from Mandipensa, chief of an
indigenous tribe in the Philippines.
The event was part of a series of programs sponsored by the
student group Samahang Pilipino to celebrate Pilipino American
History Month.
“These indigenous people have never been conquered or
colonized and have still retained their tribal dialect,” said
Debbie Nagata while introducing the chief. She spent one and a half
years living with the tribe.
Mandipensa opened the presentation with a ritual song, summoning
the spirits of his ancestors to join him in the art gallery.
“It’s part of our culture to start everything with a
sacred gathering. What we have here today is a sacred
gathering,” he said.
Mandipensa is the youngest tribal chief ever installed in the
Higaonon tribe, which resides on the Mindanao island off the coast
of the southern Philippines. While other datus, or chiefs, act as
priests or administrators, Mandipensa said he is responsible for
telling others about the tribe. He told his listeners not only
about the Higaonon tribe’s culture, but also that it is in
danger of disappearing due to logging in the area.
“We need to protect our forest ““ that is why I am
here,” he said.
Students said they came to the event to better understand the
indigenous people of the Philippines.
“I just heard about this event in my Pilipino history
class and it sounded really interesting,” said Bryan
Cardenas, a third-year Asian American Studies student.
“I want to understand more because these are one of the
last indigenous people in the country,” he continued.
Mandipensa shared the story of his journey in becoming a datu
five years ago, describing tasks that tested his mental and
physical strengths.
One such feat was staying awake for eight days and nights,
reciting the oral history of his tribe. A weak delivery could spark
a tribal war, he said.
Mandipensa underwent several physical tasks after completing the
mental portion of his test, including crossing a riverbed against
moving currents for 70 meters. Only seven other men have
successfully crossed the river alive Mandipensa said.
“I also lived in the forest for six months, where I slept
with the monkeys and the snakes,” he said.
The chief continued to say not everyone can be a candidate for a
datu because they must belong to a royal clan.
But on a more serious note, the datu came to UCLA in order to
fulfill his mission of educating others on the endangerment of the
same forest where he achieved his various feats.
The datu referred to the forest as virgin and compared it to a
market where all the food is free. But the logging industry is
endangering the forests, he said.
Because outside corporations are destroying the forest,
indigenous people risk losing their homes, some say.
“If the rain forest is cut down then it would be like
cultural genocide,” said Aquilina Soriano, a third-year Asian
American studies student. “Where are they going to go if it
is cut down?”
Tribal members sometimes set fire to logging trucks to stop
illegal logging in their land.
“When loggers come, they are told that only monkeys live
there ““ we are looked upon as monkeys and that is
discrimination,” Mandipnsa said.
He said discrimination has existed since the Spanish first
settled the island and renamed it after the Spanish monarch who
colonized the land.
“Before, the Philippines was all tribal land,” he
said. “The Spanish then came and divided it with a title
system.”
“We used to be the Monaba or the Lowland tribe but when
the Spanish came, we had to go uphill and we became known as the
Higaonon or the Highland tribe,” he continued.
The tribe is fighting to pass the Indigenous Rights Act, which
has not been put into effect by the court.
“The act would recognize the rights of indigenous peoples
and would give back land that was taken without prior
consent,” Soriano said.
To protect the virgin forest, Mandipensa plans to create a
natural fence or buffer zone of durian trees to ward away those who
hurt the land.
Despite the durian’s unpleasant odor, Mandipensa said the
fruit attracts honeybees and would ward off unwelcome
intruders.
Participants of the program had mixed feelings about the
turnout.
“I was happy with the turnout, but it would have been nice
to see more people because this is a really important issue,”
Soriano said.
Samahang Pilipino has two more scheduled events this month
““ an indigenous ensemble performance Tuesday and a festival
Saturday.