Earthquake Tips from the Elders of "Dap-ay" in Sagada

After bringing my little girl to her school room on their first day of classes, I saw this painting at the wall of their building which says, “During earthquake” at the top and below are figures and words to describe what to do, “Duck, Cover, Hold.”

I read it again, and again, and again. I feel there is something missing or wrong with it. While it is a good advice, it is not as good as what my father (Blessed be him) heard in the dap-ay of Sagada when they were kids. He kept repeating to us those advices when we were kids every time there was an episode of earthquake that our home.

Figure 1   Advice of the disaster experts during earthquake 

According to him, the elders were giving hints or advice to the young boys on how to react during calamities, and one of them is earthquake. In fact, the advice is applicable in all situations of dangers an individual will be facing including typhoons, fire, floods or any dangerous situations you’ll be ready how to deal with it with those simple advice from the elders of the dap-ay.

Experienced of many dangers and calamities, the elders of Sagada developed their own ways on how to survive through discussions at their dap-ays. And those wisdoms and knowledges were shared with the boys who came every night to sleep in the dap-ay through generations. That’s why when I saw the illustration outside my child’s school building, I can’t stop thinking if it is the best thing to do or not.

According to my father here are the things he learned from the elders of the dap-ay on how to react in cases of dangers:

1.   Be calm

In all kinds of dangers force yourself to be calm or composed. Never panic. Panic killed more people than the  danger itself.

In the aftermath of the 1990 earthquake, each time an aftershock occurs, some of the people who came to my
aunt’s home to sleep at night, used to run in a panic mode. And in the process, few of them sprained their ankles, some fell face down hurting their palms when trying to protect themselves from the fall, and others hurt their knees.

It was one of the situations when the words of my father reverberated in my ears. I repeated to them the advice of my father as he heard from the elders of the Sagada dap-ay. That since my aunt’s house was made of wood including its posts, and only four feet above the ground it was therefore a very safe place. There was very, very little chance to nothing for it to collapse. And if it collapses, it is not as dangerous as those houses and buildings which are made up of concrete. Since then, even the strongest aftershock did not make anyone of them run, although, the look of being worried were still in the faces of few.

But worry is alright according to my father as told by the elders of the dap-ay. Why? Because it makes you be ready in cases of worse scenarios that might happened. However, too much worry will make you like a disabled person. Your knees become weakened and could not even walk to your safety and you will not be able to think what to do in order to save yourself. And worst, you might affect the others, especially, when you start shouting at the top of your lungs.

2.  Be Alert 

When you are worried a little, it makes you more alert and be ready to spring into action. I had a boss in Israel who doesn’t want to hear when his children were telling him not to worry. He said, “If I did not worry enough, my family and their families are all now scrubbing floors just to make both ends meet.”

So, same thing when we are in the face of danger. Worry is a natural ingredient as gift from God because it makes us become alert, in this case, during earthquake. It makes us watch out for imminent dangers, like, falling objects, and panicking throng of people who might run you over, especially, when you’re on their way out to the exit.

3.  Be Smart 

Assess your location:

 a.   Are you inside of a building? Bungalow type of buildings, and houses made up of wood are at least safe. Being in the basement or first floor of a building are the most dangerous area to be in – get out to the nearest door or go up to the nearest stairs if quake is long and when you have the chance. Never follow a crowd, remember stampede killed more people than the danger itself.

b.   You’re in open place There’s no need to panic, unless the ground opens wide and swallow you, so, just be alert. But the best thing to do is to stay cool or sit down when you feel dizzy or you are losing balance.

A Glimpse on To How the Farmers of Isabela Gave up their farms to the Igorot Farmers

The farmers and people of Isabela were so lucky when the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos unflinching leadership build up the Magat Dam found in the boundary of Ifugao and Isabela despite oppositions from the so called “Makamasa.”

Magat Dam is a large rock-fill dam in the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The dam is on the Magat River, a major tributary of Cagayan River. Construction of the dam started in 1975 and was completed in 1982. Magat Dam is one of the largest dams in the Philippines. It is a multi-purpose dam which is used primarily for irrigating about 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres) of agricultural lands,[1] flood control, and power generation through the Magat Hydroelectric Power Plant. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magat_Dam#cite_note-ifc-1)

Magat Dam

Before the construction of the dam, the lands of Isabela were just waiting for rain to be planted of rice once a year.

I still remember as a kid in Dagupan, Tabuk Kalinga when many farmers from nearby places of Isabela, like, San Manuel, San Mateo, San Ramon, and as far as Alicia, Kawayan were coming during harvest time of palays, and planting season of rice. In the 70s and 80s, almost all farm works were done physically hence manpower was badly needed.

It only stopped when Magat Dam was already operational in the early 80s.

However, the farmers of Isabela seemed were not ready to do fulltime farming, because just a few years after their lands were awarded to them, they started to give it up in exchange of loan to the Igorot of Mountain Province. Instead of paying up their loans they asked for more money until they can no longer afford to pay back their loans, therefore, they have no other recourse but give up their land after the Igorot farmer paid-up the remaining balance of the market value of the farm.

But why are the Isabela farmers are losing their farms through loans?

The most common reason we hear from them is “They are financially in need because their children are going to college hence in need of big amount of money.”

The bigger question is why they are not able to reclaim their lands?

One reason is because of the high interest of the loan which is according to the people I spoke with is 10% per month. Probably, the price did not pierce their thoughts because they usually borrow a smaller amount of loan. Say, Php20,000. In their mind, its worth “is only” Php2,000 a month which will only be Php6, 000 – Php8, 000 in three to four months at harvest time. But because they have loans from the department stores which they cannot ask to give them more time to pay, they then leave the Igorot farmer who is always ready to wait until they can pay (or no longer pay). Of course, the Igorot farmer is happy when the other party cannot pay yet because it means, just a matter of time when they will ask him to lend them more money with conditions he will work the farm but no more interest until such time the Isabela farmer can pay the capital.




However, the bigger reason why they are not able to get back their lands is due to “Financial mismanagement” due to lifestyle extravagance.

I observed this when I went there to visit the farm of my in-laws.

As mentioned, the Isabela farmers love to live a good life. When you visit their homes, many of them have almost complete appliances: Refrigerator, sound system, brand new television which are not paid in cash but are being paid monthly.

Let’s say, we don’t care about their life style, but when you look at the homes of some of them, I am sure you will say to yourself, “Isn’t the home more important to make it better and safer, and to have place for those appliances?”

What’s more is, barely a month, after a very good harvest, when you think they should have enough to last until the next harvest season, they are knocking at your door begging you to loan them rice to cook for their food.

It’s not believable but that’s the common reason why most Filipinos are struggling in life. The Isabela farmer is just but an example how most Filipinos’ life become a struggle and worst make them poor. Children forgot their parents sacrifices to have their own lands and left it for them to have something they can take care to improve their lives. Children (In the lowlands) today forgot or was not taught by their parents the importance of hard-work and sacrifice to attain what you want and needs in life.

How Atey Got Its Name?

Taro, called pising in Sagada.

When I was a kid, every time we cooked taro for our food, I remember my father use to tell us a story about a place in Sagada which got its name from the plant. It’s somewhat like a Halloween story because it was a bloody one.

There is a place in Sagada called Atey. For the tourists and visitors and those who doesn’t know where it is found, you know you’re in Atey if you happened to be in food place called Lemon Pie Hauz.

You pass by it when you walk to visit the popular Sumaging Cave. But I am not sure if it is part of barangay Demang or Dagdag.




Anyway, the legend goes like this:

One afternoon, a man who came home from his farm to feed his birds or fowls found out that one of the roosters was missing. He waited for the rooster to come home but it was already dark and the rooster did not arrive.

The farmer suspected that somebody trapped it and had it as their food for the night. So, with a rage of anger in his heart, he buckled his bolo, a popular large knife in the Philippines used for cleaning the tall grasses and at the same time as weapon against assailants.

Bolo, Filipino use it for daily farm works and as weapon

He went from one house to house in his neighborhood to spy.

Then, as he was listening to a conversation of one family who were about to eat their supper, he clearly heard one of the kids saying, “Kuak nan atey na, kuak nan atey na!” (The liver is mine, the liver is mine!)

Upon hearing the words, his blood went up to his brain. He took his bolo from its case, kicked the slightly opened wooden door and barge in and attacked the stunned family inside. He killed the father, the mother, and their children by hacking them.

When the next of kin of the family learned about the incident, the men gathered and resolved to avenge their family members who were killed.

They went to attack the home of the man who killed their relatives. Then like a raging fire the next of kin of the attacker heard what is happening, so their men also took their own bolos and went to avenge their relative who were attacked by the other family. Then everything got out of hand, all the men in the village were all now fighting.

The fight lasted the whole night. It only ended when the elders from the nearby villages came shouting at the top of their lungs to stop the men from killing each other.

After investigating what transpired, they found out that the liver the boy wanted to have was the tuber of the taro plant which his parents cooked for their food. The kid was just fancying and joking the tuber was a liver.

And in the early morning, they dug a large deep pit to bury all the bodies of those killed during the night.

From that time on, whenever somebody pass through or go to the place they describe it as atey for the others to easily understand what he/she means until the word became common as a descriptive name of the place.

What year it happened? I don’t know. But from my father’s(+) story, it seemed the incident happened probably two or three generations before him.

What a Teacher Can do to a Kid?

This is a testimony of one of those pupils who were taught to READ by Miss Deg-awan.

According to this man, it was 1991 when he went to Antadao Elementary School. And Miss Luisa Deg-awan patiently taught him to read. What he could not do for one year under the guidance of her former teacher at the school where he came from, he achieved it in one week at AES. All because a great teacher named Miss Deg-awan motivated him that he could read and challenged him to work harder to learn to read.

That’s simple, right? Wrong!

What makes his testimony interesting for me to listen to and taught of sharing here was before he transferred to Antadao, Sagada to study, he attended primary school here at San Vicente Elementary School, Baguio city(BCNHS- ANNEX).

At the end of school year at San Vicente Elementary School, he couldn’t read at all. Interestingly, their teacher was not lazy, in fact, she was very diligent in trying to teach her pupils to be able to read.

What is the DIFFERENCE?

His former teacher was, according to him, a “TERROR.” The word is how we kids in the past describe a teacher who were uncaring. I don’t know if there is a modernized and more technical term for a terror teacher today,

During times she teach them to read, she bangs their heads in the blackboard and called them “Tabbed” (Dumb) and even told them they were hopeless .

The story came about when we were talking about forgetfulness. During the exchanges, he said his forgetfulness came back. As a kid, he said he could easily forget things that is why their teacher was so angry when he could not remember the words her teacher just read for him to repeat.

He said, the teacher would read the few words she wrote on the blackboard and he will repeat after her. But whenever she would let him repeat reading the words alone, he already forgotten what was it which often prompted the teacher to get angry and all of a sudden hit his head on the blackboard.

However, when he went to Sagada he said his memory became sharp under the guidance of Miss Deg-awan.

But now, at the age of 30+ he sometimes forgets things easily, and he believes, that because he often fall and sometimes hit his head first on the ground. In addition to it, it must have been aggravated by his former teacher’s banging his head on the blackboard.

I joked he go home to Sagada, he might recover his sharp memory again.







Anyway, the point of this story is what a teacher CAN DO to a kid.

There are a lot of teachers there teaching for the sake of having a source of food, and only few are teaching for the passion of teaching.

And I believe, DepEd must make it a requirement for each aspiring teacher to get a supposedly “Dumb” kid and bring out the best of him as requirement for getting a license to teach. True, a teacher can be the topnotch of an examination to become a teacher but it doesn’t mean he or she is passionate about teaching. I know, because whenever we were asked why are you taking this course? Because it is the most employable profession. Remember nursing course in the 80s and 90s?

By the way, who were pupils or students of Miss Deg-awan during her time as teacher. Maybe, unknowingly, you owe her why you could read. It is not because you are intelligent.

Maybe it is high time to say thank you to her. Because if it is not through her talent in teaching you were found to be dumb like what happened to this friend of mine.


Teachers’ day was just celebrated a few days ago, but for great teachers I love to say “Happy Teachers’ day every day.”

May you be blessed with more patience to teach because under your wings this world’s future is determined by the potentials you brought out of the kids you taught. Stories like this made me believe the saying “Teaching is the noblest profession.”

Lastly: I will not divulge the name of the terror teacher. According to my friend she retired long ago and don’t know if she is still alive or not.

Why it’s more fun for kids to grow up in Sagada?

Kids playing the gongs

I believe every kid loves growing up free from the hassles of city life. I wish all kids in the world can enjoy life with freedom like these kids in Namsong, Sagada, Philippines.

I attended a wedding of my wife’s cousin in Namsong, Sagada last July 08, 2017 and I was much amazed by the happiness and pleasure the people celebrated the event.

Kids sitting around waiting for the gong players to beat the gongs.

We arrived in Namsong at around 12 noon, and while we were still half kilometer away, we could hear the beats of the gongs playing – and it seems there was no letups – as soon as one round of music was finished another round was played immediately. We were guessing, they were trying to take advantage of the absence of the rain because anytime rain might be pouring.

Along the way to the place of celebration, we met children and parents carrying foods, either to bring it home or find a good place to eat. Well, it signals lunch was already being distributed.

When we arrived at the place, dancing was going on, and we could see the delight in the people’s faces enjoying their food while watching the performers.

Rice, meat, pansit(Rice noodles), was the main menu. And what makes it extra unique is that the foods were placed in the bark of cut banana trunks. It reminded me of my childhood days when banana trunks were used as plates. It was the “king of plates” during weddings and all kinds of celebrations where people were invited to eat.

I can't remember when was the last time I ate in a bark of banana trunk as plate - I was about 10 yrs old I guess.

And as I was watching, I noticed how the kids were part of the celebration. No wonder the gongs don’t stop singing because every time the adults put down the gong the kids(ages 7-12 years old) immediately pick it up and start beating it – and they play very good, too, like the adults.

I can’t help but say, “Wow, it’s really fun being a kid growing up in Sagada!” In the background of those playing the gongs, small children are enjoying the music: some were trying to dance and some were just running around freely without being restrained, and the others just watching with curiosity. And this went on till late at night. I left around 11pm at night to get my rest and the kids are still around enjoying themselves. According to my mother-in-law, the children were the major gong players until past midnight before the young men took over.

The elders sit near the couple.  Listening to anyone who would like to say a story of which everyone, specially, the couple can get lessons or wisdom.

The young people watching the players and dancers and try to be part of the group once in a while

I thought to myself, how much I had missed as a kid!

I grew up in the province, but I haven’t gone to wedding celebrations like this one where you can learn the gongs and traditional dance of the Igorot.

It is this kind of experience that made the people of Sagada vocal in sharing their Ideas and always active during traditional weddings. They start as kids.

In the city of Baguio, it is seldom to see very lively wedding celebrations. The lively ones are those with the gongs being played. Without it, or once it’s stopped, expect the celebration to be dry or just like as if there is no wedding going. I told one of my friends, if there is no traditional gong music and dances, it is much better to just do it in front of a mayor and eat at the restaurant.

Anyway, to see what I am talking about watch the video, below:

So, What's Up In Sagada?

For almost eight months now, I have been in and out of Sagada. From these trips, I am amazed to see how much the place have changed, and still fast changing. In fact, a month you don’t visit will make you wonder if you’re visiting the same place you visited the last time.

 Last March, the road widening at the entrance to the poblacion was just finished. Also, a road from Ambasing to “Alab”( I am not sure of the name of the place) is now in its last stages to complete. Before these roads, the farm to market road were also constructed from Atey to Demang near the Episcopalian Church. But the fastest that’s changing the makeup of the place are the residential houses cropping up like giant mushrooms. Anywhere you look, beginning at the entrance to Sagada, once you passed by Tetep-an, you will notice houses being constructed in almost every corner.

Well, Sagada is now booming because of its flourishing tourism. Unlike decades ago, when mostly foreigners are the clients to guide, local tourists quadrupled or increased 1000% according to the local guides I know. That’s very good for the tourist guides because their earnings also increased, and it’s very good for the businessmen because they can price their products higher which they call “Tourists’ price” and believe me it is even higher than the price found in the City of Baguio. And – whether you’re from Sagada or not – you pay the “Tourist price.”

The Problem of booming tourism

While tourism is giving instant jobs to the locals, the farmers are losing due to lack of manpower to help them in their farms.

(Note:  when I say farm, I mean lands planted with vegetables, not planted with rice like in the lowlands. Although, there are few farm lands specially designated form rice.)

One of the gardeners I spoke with complained that it is very disappointing to plant vegetables nowadays because you can’t find young able men to help carry the harvest to the road accessible for loading. All the men young and some middle age men choose to work as guides because they get a better pay without working hard. In fact, my brother - in-law who used to cultivate vegetables left his garden to work as guide. Now his garden is covered with thick different kind of grasses.

Another problem, is you can’t find enough carpenters if you want to build a home or building.

So, the people of Sagada are forced hire  people from the lowlands:  carpenters, masons, including house helpers, and farmland helpers.



When I learned many people being hired as helpers are coming from the lowlands, I exclaimed "Wo, Sagada is the next destination for OFWs!"

What makes Sagada attractive to the lowlanders is that the salary is higher than the national standard. From what I heard, here are the salaries of people working in the different field of work: In the construction area, the salary for helpers is ranging from Php300 to Php400. Rough Carpenters Php500. Skilled Carpenters and mason Php700.

And mind you, this is with free lunch and free supper. And sometimes even breakfast is free. Not only that, expect free alcohol in the afternoon after work.

And, unless you are an engineer, a lawyer, or well high educated, one will not worry about the next job because there are lots of menial jobs where help is needed.

The road entrance in Atey just after Lemon Pie House

Atey road going to Demang.  Turn to the left because the right is only about 50 meters long and it's a dead end - unless you want to see the present vice Governor. According to the people, the fund used to this road was from the "Farm to market road" project of former President GMA

Middle Continuation of the road

A little further to the left is the end of the road.  Anglican Church at the background