Philippine Boat Culture: Cultural Preservation or Environmental Protection?
Update: On September 9, 2017, I had the chance to sail on the Sultan sin Sulu- one of the balangays inspired by the boat building tradition of the Philippines. See here!
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March 2015- The National Museum together with the Department of Foreign Affairs held a two-day Seminar-Workshop on Philippine Boat Culture in Manila. The event aims to establish a database on different boat building traditions and techniques as practiced by the different ethnolinguistic groups of the country. It shall support the initiative on including the boat-building traditions of the Philippines in the UNESCO List of Intangible Heritage for Safeguarding.
The event featured an introduction to the boat culture of the Philippines where the extensive use of boats throughout the country and different boat designs were highlighted. The roles of boats in pre-Hispanic Philippines, as well as during the Spanish era were also discussed as well as the rituals performed before boat building- an activity which shows that boat building is a sacred and important act in the lives of the builders. Adding to the interesting topics tackled is how boat culture is infused in Philippine languages and continuous to be used today. An example of this is the word is " luwas" which refers to the travel from the provinces to the capital city of Manila. The interesting fact is, it used to mean travel to Manila via the river instead of the road or highways which is how we understand it today.
As a lover of history and culture, I became more proud of the Philippines as I sit in the seminar. It is only now that I discovered how skilled how my ancestors were in boat building- their boats can even reach as far as China when they trade goods! This information does not manifest in our history books and I was very glad to know that this kind of culture existed even before Spaniards came in our land. It just says that the Filipino people are not “barbarians” as the Spaniards claimed.
During the second day, different boat makers from Sabtang in Batanes, Butuan in Agusan, Negros Oriental, and Sitangkai in Tawi-Tawi discussed the geography of their areas, the different boats they use, and the techniques in boat making that they utilize. It was mentioned that the choice of wood for all boat builders are the white lauan and red lauan species- critically endangered trees in the country.
As the boat-builders share their techniques and knowledge, they also raise issues e.g the scarcity of wood at present time and the government’s prohibitions on the extraction of wood specifically the ones used for boat building. It was evident that the boat builders see the policy of DENR on hardwood extraction as a hindrance for the continuation of their boat building practices and traditions.
For the workshop, the participants were divided into groups so that they can sit in with the boat builders to further discuss different boat types, rituals, and materials used. During the interview with the presenter from Tawi-Tawi, he mentioned that because the island of Sitangkay has no forest, they have to “import” or get their wood illegally from Sabah, Malaysia. These woods are red and white lauan species, and a wood they call “Tabulus” or century tree. He also mentioned that up to four-hundred pieces of planks are used to make one “Kumpit”- their largest boat that can carry up to 150 tons of cargo.
With issues on government policies regarding hardwood extraction, Dr. MJ Louise Bolunia from the Archeology Division of the National Museum raised that there is a conflict between national laws and cultural preservation. The representative from UNESCO mentioned that there should be legislation for special cases such as in the case of the boat builders to preserve traditions.
In this day and age, when forest cover diminishes in an alarming rate, I am very saddened to hear that old growth and critically endangered trees are being cut. It breaks my heart to know that forests are being felled. On the other hand, I do understand the need to preserve our unique culture and traditions as these serve as our national identity. It would also be heart breaking to imagine that the boat building knowledge will not be passed on to future generations.
Do we really have to choose between cultural preservation and environmental protection? Is there a way to balance the two aspects so that culture is preserved and the trees remain? I cannot offer solutions to these questions as the program ended and as I write this piece. Conflicted as I am now, I am still glad that I had the opportunity to attend the event. More than the knowledge I gained, I walked out of the National Museum a changed person: a proud Filipino who have just gained a very important part of her national identity.
