ANTONIO V. FIGUEROA FAST DAVIS’ 1930 VISIT IN DAVAO

people to the square mile.”

Davis, a keen bystander, made two interesting comments during his trip, namely the utter neglect of the natives by the government, described as the “blackest page in American history in the Philippines,” and the land grabbing of indigenous lands. Without delay, he relayed his observations to Honorio Ventura, then interior secretary under the American administration.

His remark apparently triggered an immediate response in Manila. Though three decades late, the idea of opening reservations for the natives was broached. But the honest to good-ness execution of the concept, however, was only pushed seriously in 1974 with the creation of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on National Minorities (PANAMIN). Twelve years later, under the first Aquino lead- ership, the Office for Southern Cultural Communities (OSCC) and the Office for Northern Cultural Communities (ONCC) were instituted.

The idea of creating reservations was seen by Davis as a way of stopping the incursion by Japanese investors in regions in and around the gulf of Davao. The creeping intrusion was viewed as “an international problem,” and the reservations were “a decent measure in behalf of the aborigines.” His observations were first-hand, and he got them from the nightly huddles he had with the tribes along the wilderness. So impressed was he in meeting the tribes that the journal called the Davao-Agusan region as “a veritable laboratory for the ethnolo-gist,” adding:

“One tribe is as modern as an army, it bestows sartorial insignia for every

H. MARCOS C. MORDENO SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS

By Who among the commuting public wouldn’t want a comfortable vehicle? Everybody, driver or passenger, is wishing for a hassle-free ride to and from work, school or wherever. Who wouldn’t want a cleaner air to breathe? Only fools would say they love the smog of Metro Manila and the increasingly polluted air of other urbanized or urbanizing areas of the country. These are the central reasons for the government’s push to modernize the jeepney, the ordinary Filipino’s main mode of transport in most cities. Or, at least, that’s what our man one of its braves exterminates: the dress of one chief who talked with Governor Davis attested a total bag of 134-evidently with no more observance of the game laws than a Christian army would exercise, when God got on its side, and with plenty of orthodox potting from cover.”

Targeting land-grabbers, consequently, resulted in the hunting of Japanese who were poaching of tribal clearings. The journal even cited an incident where a land grabber was ambushed:

“A Japanese, bent over his hemp-stripping, suddenly feels a crick in his back, an arrow from ambush, or a spear--then he doesn’t feel anything, not even the hemp rubbish piled over him,” adding: “That’s not a very nice game. But it isn’t any nicer to see your lands taken away from you and given to strange immigrants, by laws

WHAT PRICE JEEPNEY MODERNIZATION?

officials are saying. The question is, can the hard-up drivers afford it? Individual drivers could not obtain a loan on their own. They are required to be members of a cooperative first before they may avail of loans. That’s how banks operate, they make sure there’s a safety net for the money they lend, in this case, the cooperative as guarantor in case mamang tsuperdefaults on his obligation for reasons other than an unwillingness to pay I believe. A unit of the new jeepney costs around 2.4 million pesos. If a driver obtains a 10-year loan for that amount, that’s

240,000 pesos a year or 20,000 pesos a month. He needs to earn a minimum of 700 pesos daily for the amortization, excluding the interest. Now, how about his family’s needs? And, for new jeepneys that would run on Euro 4 diesel (if building electric-powered units is more expensive), what if prices of fuel and parts keep increasing? If you’re following, I’m not tackling this from a sentimental viewpoint, that is, trying to save a cultural icon that has outlived its usefulness vis-a-vis the need for a modern, energy-efficient alternative. It’s an issue of sur- vival. The humanist in me could not bear to see thousands of families deprived of their livelihood as sacrificial pawns in the march towards transport modernization. All is not lost if the other stakeholders can “sacrifice” a bit, though. For one, maybe there’s a way to reduce the P2.4-million cost of each new jeepney, e.g., reducing the tariff on the imported engines and other parts as well as the taxes on the assembled units. I’m not pinning my hopes on the banks to reduce their interest rates. (It would be a miracle if they do.) Thus the other alternative is for the you cannot read nor understand--with which sharpers stand ready to swindle you at every turn.” government to subsidize part of the cost of building new jeepneys or shoulder the interest of the loans. It would be people’s money well-spent compared to the First Family going on junkets with dozens of hangers-on. Or compared to the shady Maharlika Fund. Or compared to the impending Constitutional Convention, which is self-serving on the part of the dynastic politicians. To the last one we should shout in unison, Para (Stop)! (MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Marcos C. Mordeno can be reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com.)

The agrarian problem eventually reached the 1934 Constitutional Convention where Da-vao delegate Pantaleon Pelayo Sr., on September 20, 1934, exposed local politicians, mostly lawyers, for conniving with the Japanese in acquiring lands through marriage, dummy, or harassment. His feisty expose eventually led the convention to institutionalize a provision that makes ownership of land by foreigners as prohibited.

The land-grabbing of indigenous lands, sad to say, continues to this day despite the issu-ance of a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT). A visit to the Davao-Bukidnon boundary, which has slowly been turned into a high-end resort country, tells a complete story.