MALIBCONG, Abra — The Vanaw community of Malibcong, Abra are using an indigenous forest management system in saving, protecting and sustaining their natural resources.
The Lapat system has been practiced by the Vanaw tribe since time immemorial. Through the Lapat, these indigenous people are able to enforce their resource management system that regulates by prohibiting during a certain period of the year, the cultivation, utilization, and even the occupation and conduct of large scale development of their natural resources such as minerals, forest products, rivers, mountains, hills, flora, and fauna.
This banning policy is lifted by the Council of Elders of the Vanaw when they know that the right time has come. The right time means the resources are safe and free from the risk of extinction.
The Vanaw community established the Lapat system to conserve and protect forest and fresh water resources.
Through the Lapat as a resource system provides rest for the earth and bodies of water in the indigenous cultural communities to generate and regain its strength after their use and cultivation and to replenish their natural fertility and resources for the use of the present and future generations.
In the advancement of the lapat system, the Vanaw tribe performs the “sogsog” ritual which will purposely seal and strengthen the implementation of its policies. The ritual is conducted by an old man chanting a ritual prayer before slaughtering a full-grown boar.
The ritual that was conducted on October 3, 2017 at Poblacion, Malibong was witnessed by various representatives of government agencies that actively support Vanaw’s initiative of maintaining and sustaining the ‘lapat’ system. ** PIA Abra
