HOW THE ISNEGS TRANSFORMED WATER INTO LIGHT
By Saniboy Pacursa
Secluded right in the heart of the northern half of the formidable Cordillera mountain range, wreathed by the surrounding impenetrable tangled mass of tropical vegetation, the small village of Katablangan in the municipality of Conner, province of Apayao iso ne of the remotest areas in the country still lacked with the convenience of electricity sourced from external power grids.
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| The immense Cordillera mountains in Brgy. Katablangan |
The only consolation of paying a visit to Katablangan is its verdant, almost untouched tropical mountain rainforests girdled by clean, potable streams and rivers that are lens worthy.
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| The hard roads going to Katablangan village |
For Mang Luis Lugayan, 60, an elderly Isneg folk and a local chief "lupon", the nature has taught him to embrace a laid-back way of life. He is a living testimony of resiliency and perseverance, molded by the enduring predicament of almost unending nights he experienced, devoid of invigorating luminance.
"Nakasipsipnget", meaning extremely dark. An Iluko word Mang Luis used to describe the community he belonged during those nights of dimness for the longest time. He lived to tell the story with timeless confidence of how life went on incessantly without the good embrace of electricity.
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| One of the many lens-worthy view in the village |
Isneg is the predominant ethnic group that comprises the village of Katablangan. However, intermarriage, called "pakamang" resulted into settlement of other ethnic minorities in the village mainly the Ilokanos, Igorots and Kalingas. The mixed culture caused by these intermarriages eventually led into better understanding and respect to each other's culture and traditions that in the long run, paved the way into the answer to their plight for “light”.
The people of Katablangan represent the epitomes of true high-spirit, cooperation, determination, teamwork and resourcefulness despite the inadequacy, or worse, the absence of foremost government services such as concrete roads and bridges, access to health and the integral part of the story- electricity.
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| An Isneg elder in the mountains tending his sugarcane crops |
For the ever-persisting villagers, electricity is a hope for a better life. We couldn't imagine how life would flourish without it. But the burden of Katablangan's solitude and its inconvenience to the power grid corridors halted the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to attain the isolated village’s electrification. The community is also the largest, the wildest and the remotest of all the barangays of Conner, adding further woes to electric cooperatives to conceive the same undertaking.
For decades, Mang Luis, like many of his village folks, literally survived in a world of darkness lit by the dimming "burruong", a makeshift kerosene lamp made from a strip of rag strung inside a bottle.
"It was so boring. We couldn't do any stuff at night. There were several times that we have to set up bonfires just to conduct our barangay sessions and meetings", recalled the home-grown Mang Luis.
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| The village of Katablangan is the largest and remotest in Conner |
At noon, the village, sparsely populated by less than four persons per square kilometers appears ghost-town. The residents go feral away from their homes, tending their crops, hunting, fishing or working from other sources of income, far from their home base; and so, meetings or gatherings for any reason could only be prompted and commenced at night using a bonfire fueled by twigs or fire woods.
The search for "light" originated unintentionally in the beginning; from amazement to curiosity, and finally into action.
In 1997, the local chief, Kapitan Benito Lugayan, 56, Mang Luis' younger brother, traveled to the neighboring town of Malibcong in the equally mountainous province of Abra for a tribal peace pact also known as "bodong". Their bodong accord with the Mabaka tribe of Abra, according to Kapitan Benito is renewed every year to strengthen kinship and reunite the tribes who had been divided by social boundaries and most especially, to mutually protect or safeguard the rich natural resources within their territories which had long been exploited and disturbed by unscrupulous outsiders.
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| Protecting the forest of Katablangan |
No one would know that this historic "travel" would turn out to be the catalyst of change that would later on liberate Katablangan out from miserable destiny perpetuated by the absence of sustaining power source; a fate that would change the lives of its people forever.
What the local chieftain witnessed in Malibcong was a micro hydro-power plant that substantially supplied enough power to support several households in the village without affecting the integrity of the surrounding rainforests.
"Our village is found in the upper most portions of the rich Barren River with enormous watersheds and bountiful natural resources in the rugged mountains and rolling hills", Kapitan Benito humbly described Katablangan. What Kapitan Benito needed is to exploit the kinetic energy of the dynamic and wild Barren River into their advantage.
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| The clean and dynamic river in Katablangan, Conner, Apayao |
He wanted to adapt in their village the engineering marvel that dropped his jaw in Abra: where the water turned into electricity; where the water provided an inexhaustible power; where renewable energy could ultimately alter the fortune of the Earth by arresting or mitigating climate change.
“I have seen the hydro-power. I was delighted and astounded. I asked them how they came up with that system of electricity”, the village chief remarked.
How did he and the persistent people of Katablangan realize this technological advance is another story of victory.
After concurrences with the right people, coordination from the local government unit, the Department of Energy and several non-governmental organizations, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Germanybased anti-poverty confederacy Misereor Ihr Hilfswerk, through the Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya (SIBAT) concluded the feasibility of building a micro hydro-power plant in Katablangan.
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| The 7.5kW power micro hyrdopower plant |
The initial steps to go through were tough. But mentally harder to Kapitan Benito was the discouragement from the pessimistic people around, regarding the project’s ambitious outcome.
"I should sever my ear if the project becomes successful", one doubter said in a sarcastic joke, remembered the village chief. But negating the mockery, Kapitan Benito proved these kinds of insults would just lead to their success through the persistence and cooperation of the faithful people of Katablangan for a common goal: transforming water into light.
In September 2002, the historic construction of the micro hydro-power plant initiated.
The hauling of materials appeared to be the most difficult job for the people since the canals they etched through the side of a rocky mountain parallel to the river, needed concreting. Every household, they should haul heavy bags of cement and other construction materials from the town center, up to the headwaters to build a dam. They blasted the rocks with dynamites for years to create power canals that would drive a turbine and would transform water into light.
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| Power canals etched on the cliff side powering a turbine |
And there is hope at the end of a rainbow.
In seven years full of hardships and tears after the momentous “travel”, the plight for light was over. The Isnegs savored the first taste of the coveted 7.5 kilowatt power electricity inside their wooden homes as a result of their solidarity and workmanship.
The villagers could not hide their highest degree of joy upon the completion of the said project. The realization of this dream however didn't emanate overnight without costs. Some have died along the course of building the power canals, rip raps and the reservoir. Men, women, children and the elderly all extended hands for the mini dam's construction.
Transporting of materials up and down from the mountains found to be an arduous job. Breaking the precipitous mountainside to make kilometers-long canals was highly perilous. Working rain or shine relentlessly, at some point discouraged morale. But they persisted until they succeeded. It was made possible by the Isneg people's resourcefulness, patriotism, camaraderie and sacrifices for a common goal intended to uplift the quality of their life.
And so in September 2022, the people of Katablangan inaugurated the micro hydropower plant's 20th years of existence – now still soundly operational.
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| 20th year inauguration of Micro Power Plant |
In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. We know that small attempts, repeated with commitment, will complete any undertaking, no matter how hard.
And for those who have died along the way, high honors were given to them in their graves; they might not have experienced and witnessed this joyful event but here are their sons, daughters and generations enjoying the fruits of their labor; the labor dedicated to the future generations with their sweat, tears and blood embedded just to terminate their once upon a time plight for light.
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| Being part of a media group that covered the Power Plant's 20th year of operations |
"We have accomplished one thing because of our people's helpfulness to each other and our unfathomable dedication to work for our common aspiration; that is to have our own electricity", finally closed Kapitan Benito in a kilometric and emotional interview under the fading golden sun, marching in oblivion below the horizon.
Recalling the suffering they overcame, I witnessed how he wept until the sun was gone.