Far north from Metro Manila, the Sinadangas of Sadanga, Mountain Province prove that their timeless tradition of self-help will keep their people alive amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sinadangas are part of the Bontocs, a tribe of animists in the Cordillera region who weren’t swayed by the conversion of our Spanish colonizers. Presently, however, most of their cultures and traditions are in danger of disappearing.

Fortunately, some have remained strongly intact. Their virtue of self-help, or the act of taking care of one another, continues to thrive fervently in these trying times. With this practice, those tribe members who are well-off or kadangyans are expected to take care of their less fortunate fellow tribesmen.

In his statement, Mayor Gabino Ganggangan said: “Should this crisis extend longer to the extent that our needy families really run out of their rice supplies, we shall mandate the kadangyans of every barangay to open up their rice granaries (agamang or sarusa) to sustain us through to the next harvest season.”

Their compassion and generosity does not end there. At the start of the lockdown, Mayor Gabino Ganggangan through the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office refused the relief food packs provided by the regional office.

Mayor Ganggangan instead directed his concerns to those who are in greater need, urging the national government to “feed those more needy urban poor in the cities and those less fortunate in other areas who can’t sustain themselves, while we sustain ourselves while we can.”

“It’s not that we don’t have poor and needy families but i believe that we as tribal communities still have and should sustain our ‘built-in’ and home-grown or indigenous social structure, values, and practice of taking care of our respective relatives or kins (sic), neighbors or kailyan in distress during hard times or economic crisis,” Ganggangan said.

Although they are not Catholics, Christians, nor Jesuits, their culture greatly reflects St. Ignatius’ call of being men and women for others. The tribe is able to aid one another and at the same time help those in need outside of their community. Indeed in these grave times of crisis, their virtue of self-help is one that must be adopted by all of us across the country so that we may heal as one.

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Author
Alec Templonuevo
Managing Editor for Online Media