The Making of Batad Volun-Tourists

MANILA, Philippines - Perhaps in every Filipino’s bucket list is a journey to the elusive mountain ranges of Ifugao – to behold the spectacular view of the 2,000-year-old Ifugao Rice Terraces in the municipality of Banaue. Once popularly known to Filipinos as the 8th wonder of the world, this mind-blowing series of rice plantations that uses an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above, remains to be a National Cultural Treasure. Getting there however, is half of the adventure.

Until this year, I have never been to the Ifugao Rice Terraces. After all, it is quite a distance from Metro Manila, not as easily accessible as Baguio, and flights that go up to the area have been discontinued. Then again, it is this detachment from the rest of the lowland world that gives this destination its peculiar charm. A reliable and comfortable, 4-wheel-drive vehicle is definitely the ideal mode of transportation up and through the challenging mountain ranges of the mighty Cordillera.

It was definitely an offer I could not turn down, then, when Mitsubishi Motors Philippines invited The STAR, together with a small group of volunteer motoring media, to a trip to the Batad Rice Terraces in the municipality of Banaue, early this February. It was a trip for a cause – to help rehabilitate a portion of the Batad Rice Terraces, that was destroyed by a landslide... and encourage the local Ifugao to bring back their bayanihan spirit, which has somehow faded away.

Our Mitsubishi convoy up to Banaue, Ifugao consisted of five Montero Sports, a Strada GLS Sport, and an ASX. It was a long, breathtaking journey through zig zags, mountain cliffs, paved roads, dirt roads, and occasional footprints of mini-landslides that occurred here and there. Segments of terraces could already be found carved into some of the mountains early along the way, as if they were tourist teasers to the main event that was to come. In other words, it felt exotic, adventurous and exciting. Personally, I have never had the chance to penetrate into the Cordillera Mountain region... and it was like entering a northern sanctuary that was lost in time.

The hike down into the tiny village of Batad coming from the saddle took a good 45 minutes to an hour, and the slippery mud from the early drizzle made it a bit of a challenge not to slip while traveling downhill. Our escort Ifugaos however, were quick to the rescue. Their wrestler-like hand grip made sure that none of us clumsy lowlanders slipped, or hurt ourselves.

Once we reached the village, we enjoyed a nice series of ethnic presentations prepared by the Batad school children; after which representatives of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines offered the students some school supplies and donations for their school. After this ceremony, we hiked further downhill to ground zero – the actual terrace site that needed rehabilitation, after being destroyed by a landslide. Also worth saying, is that we actually had to traverse the length of the wall edge of one of the terraces, to actually get there. Definitely not for the weak-hearted, but an awesome experience.

As soon as we got to the site, we were met by several Ifugao men who were amusingly dressed in traditional Igorot outfits, but clad with helmets, rubber boots and with shovels in hand. (Quite an extraordinary cross of old meets new, I thought to myself.) Together, we worked on the area, and moved several rocks away from the rubble, and into their proper place along the wall. The men also evened out the soil, and helped put the area back to its proper terrace form. It was a modern form of Bayanihan spirit at work, except this had non-locals participating in the effort – it had Mitsubishi’s team of volunteers from the motoring community, all the way from Manila.

The Ifugao “Bachang” is their local version of the Filipino spirit of Bayanihan. And once upon a time, it was the spirit of Bachang that inspired these people to collectively put together their native houses, and carve these magnificent terraces out of the surrounding mountain slopes, by hand. Today, the Ifugao spirit of Bachang is slowly fading into just a dream. Commercialization and a desire for a more modern life in the city has caught up with many of its people. Perhaps through “voluntourism” we can help revive Bachang amongst the Ifugao. Thank you to Mitsubishi Motors Philippines for helping us preserve our cultural heritage, and for this wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience.