The ICCA of the Egongot in Aurora Province

Demographics and Geography

The Egongot are the indigenous peoples of the northeastern part of the Sierra Madre range. Their traditional territory encompasses the Provinces of Quirino, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and some parts of Isabela. They inhabit the last remaining expanses of forests in the Caraballo and Sierra Madre Mountain ranges.

The ICCA site is situated in the  Aurora sector of the Egongot CADT, located in the northeastern part of Luzon.  It is part of a larger ancestral domain issued with a Certificate of ancestral domain title. Aurora is one of the three provinces comprising the whole Egongot’s ancestral domain with a total area of 139.691 hectares. Of this total area, 23,124 hectares falls under the province of Aurora.[1]

Part of the CADT in Aurora falls under the two municipalities, namely, the Maria Aurora and Dipaculao. The proposed site is bounded by the municipality of Castaneda on the northwest, municipality of Casiguran on the east, and Baler on the south.   It is mainly inhabited by Egongots, one of the two recognized ethnolinguistic groups in the province of Aurora. The Barangay Bayanihan, Ditale, Dibutunan, Dimabuno and Galintuja are some of the remaining Egongot settlements in the province.

The area is within the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, the longest mountain range in the country and considered one of the most critical watershed areas in the Philippines. Within the Egongot’s Ancestral Domains are two protected watershed forest reserves, these are: the Casecnan Protected area and the Dipaculao Forest Reserve.

Socioeconomic profile

The Egongot tend to reside in the areas close to the rivers, as it provides food source and means for transportation. The Egongot people survive through planting varieties of upland rice, tubers, and edible forest produce and by hunting wild boars and dears. These creatures found inside the forest were long ago, still supplementary for the villagers.

Farm and off-farm work are the principal means of livelihood. Families also engage in fishing, hunting and forest product gathering. Ginger, taro and banana are the principal cash crops while Camote and upland rice are subsistence crops. Residents also raise cows, chicken and native pigs as additional income and food sources. Their farming system is locally known as Begewan. Farmers who cannot afford to hire farm laborers during planting season ask for assistance from their fellow farmers.

Biodiversity and ecological significance

The Egongot CADT (Aurora Sector) is listed both as a Key Bodiversity Areas (KBA13 and 14) and as a Conservation Priority Area (CPA).

The Cloud rat and the Luzon bleeding heart Pigeon are commonly observed vulnerable and restricted range species in the area. Furthermore, the Luzon Hornbill one of the restricted range and critically endangered species has been sighted within the Ancestral Domain of the Engongot.

The traditional territory of the Egongot people, which spans three provinces was deemed very critical as this houses the major watershed basin of the Pantabangan Dam, a dam that provides the bulk of irrigation to thousands of hectares of rice and agricultural farms in the central plains of Luzon. Furthermore, the ancestral Domain of the Egongot serves as a major catch basin of the mighty Cagayan River which drains to the rich agricultural fields of the Cagayan Valley. Being part of the Sierra Madre mountain range, the Egongot domain has a big biodiversity significance deemed vital not only to Filipinos but also to the global community. Thus the government hastened to recognize the ancestral territory.

Traditional resource governance

Traditional land utilization is characterized by individual land ownership which are inherited from ancestors and passed along to the next generation. Besides the individually owned and cultivated areas, there are substantial sites within the Ancestral Domains which are comunually owned and reserved for collective utilization and for other traditional purposes such as rituals and others.  There are strict norms that are imposed and followed in the utilization and management of all natural resources within the territory. The elders called Beganget are the ones who discuss and impose norms for the all the village dwellers and most especially the matter that talks about the entry of the outsiders the land. [2]

Egongot communities have their own tribal councils with a set of leaders selected by Begtan (different clans) who help oversee the execution of the community development and manage the resources inside their CADT. These councils work hand and hand with their respective barangay government units.

• [1] National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, 2003
• [2] Egongot/Bugkalot ADSDPP, 2008