A cultural and sustainable development hub

TVIRD donates training center to Subanon hosts

Sitting atop a hill in Canatuan, a newly built structure stands proud against the lush greenery. The building will serve as a training center for the Subanon host community in Canatuan where TVI Resource Development Phils. Inc. (TVIRD) currently operates a copper-zinc mine.

For the Subanon people, the structure symbolizes the beginning of the realization of their collective dream to continually improve their lives in their ancestral domain. While the structure is primarily designed to be a training center, Timuoy Jose “Boy” Anoy, the Subanon tribal chief of all of Siocon, believes it is more than that. “I consider this edifice not only as a training center for farming and handicraft technologies. This building symbolizes our tribe’s unity and will be the hub for the preservation and promotion of our native culture,” he says.

TVIRD built the Subanon Training Center in the amount of over P2 million.

“I am grateful to the company, considering that it has only been more than a year that I have been recognized as the Timuoy of the Subanons in this part of the region,” avers Timuoy Anoy. “Now, they gave us a center that will not only benefit my people but will also promote our culture. I wish that this partnership will continue and become stronger in the years to come.” Timuoy Anoy is the lead signatory for his people, the legal holders of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.

The training center was inaugurated and formally turned over by TVIRD to its Subanon partners in ceremonies attended by tribal leaders and hundreds of their constituents, company officials and employees as well as tribal leaders from the adjacent towns in the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay. The turnover rites were made more significant and solemn as the inaugural blessings were jointly officiated by a balian (traditional Subanon religious official) and by a Catholic priest, Fr. Ferdinand Buenaflor.

Speaking in behalf of the company, TVIRD Human Resource and Administration Manager Cyril Baylosis said that the center is “proof of the company’s deep commitment to share with its Subanon partners the blessings of the Almighty and to respecting the Subanon customary laws.”

Also on hand to represent TVIRD were Paul Arias, Security Force Department Manager; Danny Perez, Materials Management Manager; Hilario Gingo, Maintenance Department Chief Planning Engineer; Fred Gonzaga, Mobile and Electrical Superintendent; as well as officers and staff members of the company’s Community Relations and Development Office (CReDO). They were joined by Subanon community members who comprise the majority of the employees at the mine.

Even before the building was completed, Timuoy Anoy and the officials of Pigbogolalan (Subano tribal council) have already begun planning and implementing livelihood projects, among them agri-technology courses for Subanon farmers. However, these trainings were done at the Clubhouse of TVIRD.

“All I want is for the more than one thousand families who are direct beneficiaries of our CADT to have sustainable livelihood even after the end of the mine life,” Timuoy Anoy stresses.

Surrounding the training center are newly planted abaca trees. The chieftain plans to make abaca, rubber and coffee as the three main crops that will be planted in 8,213-hectare CADT area. Rubber trees were already planted in select areas of the CADT and are expected to start producing rubber latex in a few years.

Timuoy Anoy, however, still has other plans for the center as he likewise envisions it to be a training hub for Subanon women on various livelihood endeavors. “Not only that — our teachers for the School for Living Tradition will be trained here,” he says beaming with pride.

Soliling (Spokesman) Onsino Mato, the secretary-general of the CADT community adds: “It is also the aspiration of the Subanons of Siocon to preserve what is left of our culture and to revive what were lost. An example is the art of weaving among our women. Weaving has been our tradition but somehow got lost as the years went by. We intend to revive it as this craft is one of the many things that make our tribe unique.”

“TVIRD has always been with the Subanons when it comes to projects that promote sustainable development,” Joel Alasco, CReDO Superintendent, points out. “Our office has earmarked for this year P1.8 million to complement what have been programmed by Timuoy Anoy for his tribe’s sustainable development projects.”

Carlos Tuerco, TVIRD Senior Agriculturist, on the other hand, revealed his department’s plans for the center in partnership with the Subanons: “We will be putting up a nursery directly fronting the training center where rubber and vegetable seedlings will be planted. It will be a busy year for both our office and the community because of various livelihood training programs we have lined up. These include vegetable and livestock production, vermiculture and composting, abaca, banana and fruit tree production, and the continuous distribution and planting of more rubber tree seedlings for our CADT beneficiaries.”

Alasco also explained that CReDO will be working double time this year as the company prepares the Subanons for the eventual end of the company’s mining operations. “The goal is for them to be able to stand on their own when TVIRD is no longer around. A tall order indeed, but something that we know is achievable because they themselves knew from the start that mining is only temporary. We are making sure that the benefits of TVIRD’s operation in the area will be felt even by future generations of Subanons.” (Joseph Arnel Deliverio)