‘If there’s one group in need of the Scriptures, it’s the Dumagats’

MANILA, Philippines — Over the last two years, the Philippine Bible Society has distributed its Ilaw sa Tahanan (Light to the Home) Bibles to almost 30,000 families living in new communities created under the government’s resettlement scheme for the urban poor. Indeed, visiting these ‘Barangay’* sites has become a regular and very welcome duty for Bible Society staff and representatives from partner churches. In July, though, the Light to the Home project entered a new phase with the first distribution of these special Bibles to one of the Philippines’ major indigenous groups.

“If there is one group in need of the Scriptures, it’s the Dumagats,” writes Bible Society Communications Assistant Edna Mae Rabago. Numbering around 30,000, the Dumagats live mainly in the fertile Sierra Madre mountain ranges north of Quezon Province. Shy and peace-loving, they have little contact with other communities and have retained much of their traditional culture. However, their isolation has meant that they have remained very poor and have had few opportunities to gain even a basic formal education. They were once nomadic, but over recent years have faced fierce legal battles over their ancestral land. This has forced them to settle in 23 communities around Barangay Laiban, where they survive by farming, hunting and fishing.

Arduous

Before staff from the Bible Society and representatives of the Christ to the Philippines (CTTP) Church in Barangay Sampaloc undertook the arduous two-hour journey to reach Barangay Laiban, they were already aware of the challenges they faced in bringing the Scriptures to the Dumagats. Still very suspicious about outsiders and mainly non-literate, the Dumagats had not been very responsive to the efforts of mission groups who had visited them in the past.

The turning point had come about a year earlier, when Chieftain Marcial Resurrection had become one of the first Dumagats to respond positively to hearing God’s Word. With a clear change having taken place in the life of their respected leader, the Dumagat community became much more receptive.

“The people knew that I used to have no direction in my life,” Chieftain Marcial explained when the visitors finally reached Barangay Laiban. “I had my vices. I sold whatever I could to support these vices. I gambled and I had enemies.

“But through God’s help and through the guidance of my friend, I gave up my vices. Now I no longer have enemies. In fact, I have gained friends.”

New life

The friend who guided Chieftain Marcial towards his new life was Dante Malonda, who is now an elder of the CTTP Church but previously had first-hand experience of life beyond the fringes of mainstream society.

“I was an illegal logger,” he told the visitors. “I became friendly with the Dumagats when I met them in the mountains while I was logging. I would often drink and gamble with the Chieftain.

“One day, though, a neighbour came to me and told me about the Bible. I was facing many difficulties at the time, and I think that this made me more willing to listen to what my neighbour was saying. Later I began to read the Bible for myself. We didn’t have electricity, but I read it at night with the aid of a kerosene lamp.

Wrongdoings

“I came to recognise my wrongdoings and I asked for God’s forgiveness. Now I have abandoned my vices and illegal activities and I am sharing God’s Word with the Dumagats.”