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TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

BACHELOR OF ELEMENTRY EDUCATION
FIRST YEAR

LEARNING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES EDUCATION

STUDENT LEARNING MODULE 8
Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and Practices (IKSPs)

POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE OF BOTOLAN

Botolan, Zambales

NOTE:
Do not write anything on this module. You may write your answers on
the separate sheet/s.

Module 8 |Page 1
Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE OF BOTOLAN
Botolan Zambales
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.pcbzambales.com
Mobile Number: 0968-307-5040

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES EDUCATION

I. MODULE TITLE: Module 8: Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and

Practices (IKSPs)

II. EXPECTED LEARNING OUTPUT:

• Understand what composes Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and
Practices (IKSPs) contributory to IP culture, and
• Appreciate and respect the ingenuity of Botoleňos by tracing the origin
of customs, traditions and cultural beliefs.

III. INTRODUCTION
Answer all activities. Honesty is the best policy.
Write your name, section, subject, and module number in your answer
sheet/s.

Activity 1. Answer based on your personal experience or knowledge.

What do you know about Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and

Practices? Explain.

Activity 2. List down example(s) of Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and

Practices in Botolan.

Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and Practices (IKSPs)

All communities since time immemorial have always been moved by the
need to survive and live meaningfully. The survival and continuing
development of communities rests on certain basic prerequisites, without
which, the continuing life of a community may be harmed or disturbed.

1. Relationship with the place – Vital to community life is the relationship of

the human community with the bio-geographical environment. All activities of
the human community (basic needs, livelihood, technologies, practices,
symbols, meanings, decision-making, etc.) are one way or another related to
the environment/place. It is by relating with the place that a community is able
to grow and develop.
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2. Relationship with the human community –For the human community to
flourish, relationships within have to be nurtured and maintained. These are
expressed through conflict resolution practices, justice systems of
communities, self-help practices, and the like. These are also seen in how
communities have ways to make sure that their sense of unity, collective
action, and oneness are maintained and sustained.
3. Relationship with the sacred/spiritual – When we talk of values, of relating
with the Creator, of important and shared perspectives that have been
handed down from one generation to another, of our relationship with our
elders, these concerns are related to the spiritual dimension of human life.
The spiritual dimension is also a crucial dimension for a community to survive
since it guides the two relationships above. Without the spiritual dimension,
the community’s moral and spiritual anchorage will weaken, and this has
grave consequences for community life.

Appreciated this way, our ancestors also studied the fields of studies
that we have in the university, only in a different way, and the products or
creations are the evidence of such study.

The knowledges of our ancestors, particularly those of IP communities,

are called

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSPs).

a. Indigenous Knowledge: Phases of Life (Yugto ng Buhay)

Indigenous means “rooted to a place”; the technologies we produce are

usually related to the bio-geographical environment

Knowledge Systems
Each product or creation reflects a knowledge system in itself – involves
facts, information, methods, skills, theories, and values.

IKSPs are:
• Generated by a community
• Experience-based and cumulative
• Scientific/empirical – trial and error, careful observation
• Changing and adaptive

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When a community passes on its IKSPs from one generation to another,
further refined and enriched as it is passed on, becoming the community’s
way of life …

…this is what we, today, call CULTURE

IKSPs by themselves are not equivalent or synonymous to culture.

• IKSPs may be documented (by print or video) and these can be stored
for safekeeping in the library. A school may say it has a complete
documentation of IKSPs. However, these stored documentations of
IKSPs does not translate to culture or culture-based education.

The IKSPs need to be learned, practiced and passed on to say that it is

CULTURE.
• This means that IKSPs, if only stored as information, does not translate
to culture.
• Culture-based education in IPEd means that the educational goal is for
the IKSPs to be learned, passed on, and practiced as a way of life in
the community.

LEARNING
STANDARD

Establishing and
sustaining a
relationship of
harmony with one’s
Ancestral Domain

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 b. Systems: Upland Farming (Rice, Rootcrops), Fishing, Hunting,
Gathering, Government & Customary Laws

Farming is practiced in three locations—upland (gasak), upland (patal) and

lowland. Gasak is a cultivated area on top or sides of the mountain where
shrubs and trees have grown while patal refers to flat areas on high grounds.
Lahar or lowland farms, on the other hand, are riverbeds surrounding the
villages that retain water until December and totally dries up by March or
April.

Gasak or swidden farm is maintained by most families as it manly provides

them food and shelter even on dire times. Since these areas are rain-fed and
irregularly sloping, various crops are planted in small amounts. Upland rice
would occupy the more regularly sloped patches while root crops and
vegetables are planted along with shrubs or under the trees. Bananas
occupy the steeper areas while other trees like mango, citrus and coconut
are on the rolling areas. The cropping pattern upland rice-vegetables-
cassava/sweet potato/ taro/ yam/ ginger/ patani is observed during the year.

Patal or flat upland farms are ½ to 1.5 hectares wide and are planted into
cassava, sweet potatoes, taro, yam and watermelons because they can be
prepared using farming implements like plow and harrow. A cropping pattern
of sweet potato-cassava/taro-sweet potato/watermelon is observed
throughout the year.

Lowland farms are usually approximately 1000 sq.m. patches planted to a

pattern of Rice-sweet potato/ vegetable-cassava in a year. These are
operated in addition to a gasak or a patal farm where the residents' dwellings
are located.

Trading or vending is another enterprise that some of the residents

undertake to derive continuous income in the year. Small farmers sell their
products to local buyers at prices lower than the market price or send their
commodities to certain buyers in town through the local buyers and pay a
fare of Php50.

Hunting requires a lot of skills but there is no guarantee on what the forest
offers. Hunters go hunting for food and income as well as to enhance their
hunting skill. It is also their way of life.

Other sources. Additional income is derived by residents from other sources

such as fishing, charcoal production, gathering banana blossoms
(`pamumuso'), share planting and working as hired labor in bigger farms.
These enterprises are often combined by farmers who do not own farming
equipment for wide cultivation. These require no cost but labor.

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 c. Practices: Facts, Information, Methods, Skills, Theories, Values,
Customs & Traditions

Most of the residents plant rice (lowland and upland), root crops (sweet
potato, cassava, taro, yam, ginger), vegetables (eggplant, beans, squash,
winged bean, papaya) and fruits like mango, bananas and water melon.
Production practices are adapted to the natural fertility and availability of
water in the area. Short term crops are harvested in three to eight months
while permanent crops like mango, coconut and bananas are planted once
but bear fruits that are harvested monthly, biannually or annually.

Marketing practices depended on the amount of production. Most crops are

produced for family consumption while extras are sold for cash to buy other
necessities. For subsistence farmers, root crops are not necessarily sold but
are consumed by the families. If there are extra produce, these are sold or
exchanged for rice or other necessities at the local store.

Hunting is done by teams of 2-5 persons, twice or thrice a month catching

wild fowls, alligators, wild pigs or deers with the use of traps and nets.
Hunters stay in the forest in 3-7 days. Wild pigs come out in the rainy season
and breed in September.
A hunting gun for the bigger animals are now handier than the bow and
arrow, although some hunters still use them. Old techniques in hunting are
still in use and the hunter's skill in forecasting a productive hunting day still
helps a lot.Catch is often augmented by gathering mountain products like
honey, wild orchids, herbal shampoo (`gugo') and other products that can be
sold in the market. While setting the traps, the hunters would gather mountain
products known to have demand in the market.

The locals of mid-Baytan are family-centered and closely-knit. They adhere to

traditional practices and values that reiterate the importance of the family.

Family routine and role of members. The residents maintain routines and
specific roles for their members. Newly married children build their dwellings
near their parents' house and work on their father's farm for awhile. They are
later assigned a lot to farm for their family's needs and become independent.
Grandparents often live in the same compound and eat with a family of one
of their children but they have their own dwelling.

Livelihood is a shared responsibility of a married couple. When the children

have grown, the mother works shoulder to shoulder with her husband in the
field for a living. Housekeeping then, becomes the task of the older
daughters.

The children join their parents in farming, gathering banana blossoms,

hunting, fishing or whatever livelihood activity they are engaged in as soon as
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they have are able. Members of the household work together in harvesting,
cleaning, sorting products and bringing them to the market the following day.

Marriage-related cultural practices.“Bandi”, “langgad”, “mamahabi” and

“pahungaw” are the more popular cultural practices. These practices caution
members of the family and the community of the repercussions of
wrongdoings like hurling insults at a person, elopement, mistreating a wife
and others.

“Bandi” is the obligation required from a man who wants to marry a woman
of his desires. “Magbandi” is the practice of settling the obligation and it could
be in cash or in kind like cavans of milled rice and fattened pigs that the
family of the bride can use.

“Maglanggad” is a punishment for hurting the feelings of a family, a friend or

a neighbor by an insult, a rumor or any othe way. When the wrong doer asks
for forgiveness, he or she is asked for a “langgad” which may be preparing
food for a lunch together with their families.

“Mamahabi” is the practice of formally asking the hand of a girl in marriage

which requires that gifts be given to the parents of the bride upon the first
meeting. During this meeting, the parents agree upon the date and scale of
preparation as well as the gifts that the bride's family requires.

“Pahungao”, on the other hand, refers to the obligations that a groom who
eloped with his bride must settle before they are forgiven and married. This is
less strict because the elders must also consider that they now must settle
peacefully.

The practices of “magbandi”, “mamahabi or pahungao” ensures that newly

weds will be provided a decent means of livelihood in their years together. It
indebts the husband to the family of the wife, hence, he must treat his wife
well. Otherwise, the wife's family may intervene and take back his wife. It
could be costly for him to regain his family. Also, the practice of
“maglanggad” reminds individuals to be always considerate and respectful.
All these practices keep Aeta families whole and clans at peace with one
another.

Other prominent values. Values like “paglingon sa pinanggalingan” (caring

for one's roots), trust in God, use of herbal medicine, sharing, pursuit of
education, determination, and industriousness are considered shields of
survival because these helped them survive and recover their losses from the
eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
Hunters share their catch with family and friends upon returning to their
villages from 3-4 day hunting. “Bawal magdamot, lalo na sa biyenan” (It is
forbidden to be ungenerous, especially to parents-in-law.) they would say.
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 d. Spirituality: Creator (Lumikha), Spiritu (Ispiritu), Man (Tao), Rituals

Believing in God (Apo Namalyari) and in spirits (anitos) also extend their will
to survive. They would like to keep their g-strings (bahag) and arrows (pana)
as cultural symbols of their practical philosophy and open-mindedness.

The anito represent nature spirits residing in specific places within the
community and outside the boundaries of human settlement, specifically, the
mountains. The physical attributes of the anito cannot be described since the
sight of the anito would cost one’s life. Although the anito seems to exist in
another metaphysical plane, the informants believed that disharmony with
these spirits could cause illness by two means, one thru possession (naanito)
and the other by being “greeted/ touched” (nabati) by these spirits. It should
be noted however that another concept, nausog¸ is similar to the notion of
nabati. Nabati is literally translated to “being greeted,” nausog colloquially
denotes “being touched” by the spirits. The relationship of the anito to the
person seems to delineate being naanito, to just being nausog/nabati, where
in naanito, the person and the anito is in the same body while in
nausog/nabati no possession is involved. According to the informants, the
pag-aanito is the “highest” form of ritual that a human person could perform.

The traditional belief of the Aeta in the concept of anito is still prevalent in the
community so much so that specific rules are followed to avoid the wrath of
the anito, like avoiding places believed to be the dwelling place of the anito
such as specific trees, or mountains (Brosius, 1990; Minoritized &
Dehumanized, 1983). Contact with the anito is believed to be deadly so
specific rules on when not to go out is also observed by members of the
community. It seems that the community believes that although they co-exist
with the anito, unintentional crossing path with an anito causes disharmony in
the individual as evidence by the illness and in the community by disrupting
the social processes within. The belief in the concept of the anito is a
remnant of their traditional belief in a pantheon of gods rule by Apo
Namalyari (Dizon, 2015.), where the anito belongs to the lower class of
mythical creatures yet seems to affect more the everyday lives of the
community members. It seems that since the upper classes of gods reside in
secluded places such as the top of mountains, inherently inaccessible to
humans, the chance of "meeting" them is close to non-existent whereas the
anitos habitation is closer to human settlement thus there is a higher
probability of antagonizing them consciously or unconsciously. This
encounter with the anitos is seen as the cause of an individual illness (Griffin
& Estioko-Griffin, 1985; Shimizu, 1989). Further, this belief in the anitos instill
among the Aetas a sense of environmental stewardship (Brosius, 1990;
Nyaga & Torres, 2015) since the dwelling places of the anitos must be
respected and protected. The belief in the anito is the essence of the practice
of pag-aanito, a séance involving chanting, dancing, mediumship and ritual
Module 8 |Page 8
objects aimed at healing the sick person (naanito) by removing the anito
causing the illness from the person (Dizon, 2015; Torres, 2012). The dance
involves in the pag-aanito is believed to entice the spirit by bribing them with
food or gifts or by threatening them with harm using the heirloom knife
(Samarena, 2007). The elements of traditional pag-aanito described in
literatures is parallel to what the community practices except the ending of
the ritual described by Samarena (2007) which involves the mang- aanito
falling unconscious as she "absorb" the sickness from the individual. The
ritual is a communal affair, where each members of the community performs
a specific task (as the audience, as the sick person, as the healer or as a
helper) and provides the boundaries of the ritual space where the pag- aanito
will be performed such that, without the support of the community, the pag-
aanito will not materialize.

Summary

The knowledges of our ancestors, particularly those of IP communities, are

called Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSPs). Indigenous
Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSPs) consists of Indigenous
Knowledge: Phases of Life (Yugto ng Buhay); Systems: Upland Farming
(Rice, Rootcrops), Fishing, Hunting, Gathering, Government & Customary
Laws, and Practices: Facts, Information, Methods, Skills, Theories, Values,
Customs and Traditions. Indigenous means “rooted to a place”; the
technologies we produce are usually related to the bio-geographical
environment. Knowledge Systems each product or creation reflects a
knowledge system in itself – involves facts, information, methods, skills,
theories, and values. IKSPs are generated by a community; experience-
based and cumulative; scientific/empirical – trial and error, careful
observation and changing and adaptive. When a community passes on its
IKSPs from one generation to another, further refined and enriched as it is
passed on, becoming the community’s way of life, this is what we, today, call
CULTURE.

Video References:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0waQ0uVMWQ
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re37MoFz4ZM
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1aTI38UG0o
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fv5YRASbaQ&t=192s
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ubRlfdbyE
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__s238Jbn5k
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H68rkJsruWQ
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLS1e1ZeSwQ

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REFERENCES:
1. Indigenous Peoples Education Office (IPsEO). September 2015/
Department of Education
2. https://knepublishing.com/index.php/Kne-Social/article/view/2412/5302
3. Martinez, Rudolf Cymorr Kirby P. (2019). The Health Ritual of “Pag-
aanito” among the Aetas of Nabuclod, Pampanga, Philippines.
Research Article Vol. 1 No. 1 January-June 2019. San Beda University,
Manila Philippines. Available at https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5323-5108

Evaluation
Answer the following:
1. What composes Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and Practices (IKSPs)?
What is your realization in this topic?
2. From video references, write a reaction paper. Minimum of 150 words.

Prepared by: Reviewed by:

WEAN CHAD BALANGON NILO C. BALANGON, EdD

TEP Instructor TEP Program Coordinator

FEEDBACK
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