Residents of New Tuburan in Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur celebrate for the first time with Colors, Sounds and Light on Christmas.

For the first time in their lives, residents of Subanen-dominated village of New Tuburan held a colorful, festive, and bright pre-Christmas celebration on December 12th.

For the residents of New Tuburan in the remote municipality of Tigbao in Zamboanga del Sur, Christmas is a much-awaited occasion. It is a time when chickens are slaughtered and served as Christmas feast. With the help of light from kerosene lamps, residents visit their neighbors’ homes to partake of a feast of chicken and noodles during Noche Buena. It is a time when huge branches of trees are felled to serve as Christmas trees in homes, decorated with pieces of colorful cloths and trinkets made from candy wrappers. The only thing missing are the lights which would make the Christmas tree and the surroundings more alive even well into the night.

All that is going to change on this year’s Christmas. For the first time in the community’s life, the residents of the village of New Tuburan are going to have a bright celebration of the birth of Christ. Using lights from solar-powered battery installed by the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program, the community can be certain of a livelier and brighter Christmas celebration: the Christmas tree will be accented by colorful lights; Noche Buena is no longer going to be partaken in the dark; the community’s joyous celebration may go on well into the deep of night.

A moment we all have been waiting for…

Josepina Labiaga, 69, is an elderly member of the village. Like 59 others in the community, she belongs to the Subanen tribe who has taken up residence in the mountains of the Zamboanga Peninsula. Originally coming from the lowlands, being a “people of the river”, they were pushed to the mountains when the Spanish arrived and claimed ownership of their lands. Ponce’s family found their way to this village 35kms from Pagadian City (or 30kms from Dipolog City), which could be accessed only by local transportation called habal-habal, or a 4x4 truck.

Labiaga recalls her grandfather’s stories on their people’s journey and transfer to the mountains. “It was difficult, but we got by,” she says. “We took to farming sayote, gabi, camote and squash. We took to raising livestock. We took to making rattan baskets.” Data from the National Statistics Office peg the Subanen population at 300,000.

Asked about the upcoming Christmas holidays, her lips break into a smile and she slightly nods her head, “This is a moment we all have been waiting for.”

All her life, every time the sun set in the west at dusk, she has seen only darkness around, until five streetlights were erected by AMORE in March of this year, and began to envelope the 90-household village in a faint glow. It was the first time she had seen a lit bulb, and she can’t help but be amazed each time it turns on at the first sign of dark.

“Christmas this year is going to be different,” she adds. They had only heard of stories from fellow-villagers who ventured out to other villages about the bright Christmas lights and lanterns, before. They knew that Christmas should be livelier than the cloth-decorated Christmas tree and the community salo-salo that ends early evening against a background of sounds coming from crickets and the gush of wind. “We have heard stories before of how Christmas is in other parts of Zamboanga. Now we will experience a different Christmas,” she happily declares.

A livelier and noisier Christmas

The Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program came to the village of New Tuburan in March 2007 and lighted up communal facilities using photovoltaic (PV) technology. Now, one can see the community’s two (2) community centers and streets basking in light brought by solar-powered batteries. Even the village’s small Elementary School was provided with solar panel so that children may have access to distance education facilities such as television, DVD player and educational television programs CDs.

“We will have colorful Christmas lights. We will be dancing to the tune of Christmas carols. We will be gathered around our Noche Buena at midnight. We can do all these things now,” Labiaga, adds.

Quite different from AMORE’s usual household electrification program, Brgy. New Tuburan was given light in partnership with the Department of Energy under the Sustainable Solar Market Package plan. Under the plan, communal lighting facilities were installed to drive the market for PV Solar. The infrastructure was erected at no cost to the barangay though household lighting will be provided on a commercial basis. With forced savings among residents, it is hoped that households will be able to have home lighting using solar energy.
 
Only recently, Tigbao town Mayor Edmundo Dalid awarded the community with P120,000.00 to reduce the cost of solar home systems. This amount will supplement the Php40,000 collected by the village association called BRECDA, or Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (BRECDA). The BRECDA is tasked to oversee the operation of the communal system, and collect the fees derived from the use of communal facilities such as barangay halls, recreation centers, distance education, and street lighting.

Residents speak of a sense of security at night as barangay halls streets are lit during their evening community gatherings.

Lola Josepina is on her twilight years. And she is happy that her last memory of her community and of Christmas will be that of color and sounds and light.