PRE-PANDEMIC TIMES: The Sinaka Eagle Bagtok Napunagan Kayupaton Association (SEBNAKA) community gather together in Barangay Tumanding.
Barangay Tumanding is a small and quiet village in Arakan, North Cotabato. It is the home of the Sinaka Eagle Bagtok Napunagan Kayupaton Association (SEBNAKA) Indigenous Peoples (IP) community comprised of some 50 household members. Recently, the community members were given access to webinar sessions by PLDT Inc. to equip them with knowledge and skills to help in their day-to-day activities.
Through these webinar sessions, PLDT empowers the Arakan women community to navigate the new normal by providing modules to help them teach their children through online learning.
37-year-old Mercy Danyog Panawad is the President of SEBNAKA and also the leader of the women’s association Sinaka Eagle Indigenous Peoples Women’s Association (SEIPWA). According to Panawad, PLDT’s support is a way to bridge the gap between the IP community and technology within the digital space.
“Malaking bagay ang tulong na ibinibigay sa amin ng PLDT. Nagmula kami sa isang mahirap lang ang komunidad namin. Pero dahil sa PLDT, magkakaroon kami ng access sa teknolohiyang makakatulong upang matugunan namin ang pangangailangan ng aming mga anak pagdating sa kanilang edukasyon. (PLDT provides us with a much-needed help. We come from an underprivileged community. But because of PLDT, we are able to gain access to technology which can help address the educational needs of our children),” Panawad said.
More opportunities, the digital way
As a young kid, Panawad saw the devastation caused by commercial logging and how it destroyed her home. The village leaders, together with the Arakan Local Government Unit (LGU), barricaded the land against loggers to preserve the land, which they call their home – a place they have treasured all their lives.
In 2019, SEBNAKA leader Mercy Panawad meets PLDT Community Relations Head Katherine Diaz De Rivera during the company's CSR efforts in partnership with the Philippine Eagle Foundation.
In 2015, Panawad became one of the sew mates for the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF). It has a livelihood program called “Community Conservation Sew Mates Enterprise”, which empowers indigenous women in far-flung communities by engaging them in conservation activities and enhancing their management and business skills. In the recent years, the IP women community of SEBNAKA learned arts and craftsmanship, which resulted to the creation of the iconic Philippine Eagle plushies. In 2018, PLDT built a multi-purpose hall where the IP community can enhance their skills. It also became a place where the Philippine Eagle plushies are made and stored.
On its 90th Anniversary, PLDT, in partnership with the PEF, also promoted the Philippine Eagle plushies. During its Corporate Social Responsibility Week, PLDT encouraged the employees to buy some of the Philippine Eagle plushies as a way to help generate income for the Arakan IP community.
“Sa tulong po ng webinar series ng PLDT, mas madadagdagan pa ang aming kaalaman at mas marami pa kaming matututunan. Mas malaki rin ang posibilidad na maibenta namin and mga produkto namin online upang magkaroon kami ng karagdagang kita. Matuturuan din namin ang mga anak namin upang magkaroon sila ng kalidad na edukasyon na makakatulong sa komunidad. (Through the help of PLDT, we will have additional knowledge and more things to learn. There will also be more possibilities for us to sell our products online to help us generate additional income. We will also be able to teach our kids, so that they will receive a quality education that will help the community),” Panawad said.
Panawad was chosen as one of the 20 women to champion for eagle conservation in Tumanding. Now in her late thirties, Panawad is a mother of four and a wife to a deputized local forest guard. According to her, she wants SEBNAKA to be an organization that is not limited to making plushies, but to be able to take on other projects that will engage young women in conservation.
