The role of Communication and Culture in Development

The role of Communication and Culture in Development

I have always pondered on the complicated debate on whether ‘culture created language’ or the other way around, which is; ‘language created culture’. I believe that both can be the case; the human’s social culture invented a tool to be one with the members of his society, and cultures also evolved by a process that heavily involves communication. They may even be products of each other.

Communication and culture have indeed a very intimate relationship. First, cultures are formed through communication or result of social communication. Then, communication and communication tools are used to preserve and pass along cultural characteristics from one place and time to another. One can conclude, therefore, that culture is shaped, transmitted, and learned through communication while communication practices are largely created, shaped, and transmitted by culture. Although, I am firm to say that communication is in itself, a culture.

Cultures are complex structures that consist of a wide collection of characteristics. The cultures of relationships or groups are relatively simple compared to those of organizations and, especially, societies. However, cultures are also dynamic - as societies evolve, culture within it also changes. In fact, cultures are ever changing from myriads of factors, like communication technology, and from different cultural encounters (because travelling has become convenient in our modern world). Thus, the ideas and the drive of people from different cultures were influenced in relation to their desires and needs. People, especially from developing countries felt the need to adapt to the changes of the world as a global village.

The need to grow with the modern society demands a change in culture. After all, the causes of rural poverty are complex and multidimensional and may involve, among other things, culture, climate, gender, markets, and public policy. Likewise, the rural poor are quite diverse both in the problems they face and the possible solutions to these problems. Thus, the acceptability of such endeavor requires compromise. Perhaps, to do this involves a tool to discover and study the factors that involves a certain change in their system, or in their lives. The people involved shall be informed, and with that genuine information, decide on what kind of development they would want for their place.

Culture and Communication: The road to Development

Culture and the Ecosystem

A UNESCO report on African poverty (“EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN AFRICA’S QUEST FOR DEVELOPMENT”) suggested that backwardness and poverty are often associated with an nonflexible culture. However, in its journal, “UNESCO Building Human Capacities in Least Developed Countries to Promote Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development” (2007, p.59), a UNESCO project that transforms peoples mindset through culture industry like appreciation of tourism on heritage parks, had produced thousands of jobs in a poor country like in Cambodia, heavily boosting its economy. It means, and adoptive culture which looks forward is bound to see progress. This strategy was also applied to our very own Palawan Island and its majestic beaches and Underground River systems. The Philippine culture depends on a successful ecosystem so that the locals can have a sustainable lifestyle in the future. The residents ultimately developed a culture to sustain and protect their ecosystem as part of their lives, and way of living.

An energy plant to pave way for development

An issue today that is worth the study is the proposal of a run-off Mini-hydro energy plant at Sabangan, Mt. Province. Sabangan, a fifth-class municipality in Mountain Province, which will host a 1 billion-peso investment after Hedcor Inc. Benguet, a subsidiary of AboitizPower, signed the final memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the operation of a mini-hydro run-off river power plant.

Hedcor Inc. Benguet senior vice president Chris Faelnar said the company will be investing a minimum of P1 billion for the construction of a 12.3-megawatt river run-off mini- hydro power plant to be located in barangays Namatec and Napua. This, he said after they were given the consent and the approval by the community, barangay, municipal and the provincial governments, giving the go signal for the start of the project. The amount of investment, he said, will include the construction of a road leading to the plant and the electro mechanical works needed in the operation. (Black and Hot, 2011)

The roads will be the first to be done, which the community can also utilize as part of their access to their homes and their local agricultural produce. When I visited the area last year  for the consultation of the people of the project as part of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act to Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) of any Project that will affect them and their Ancestral Domain, there were almost no roads leading to their homes and even directly to their farms. There was no industry, only the existence of small farms and some sarisari stores, and even in these farms, there was no assurance that they will have a good year for their crops. Below the highway, after some thick forest is a river which flows from Mt. Data, Bauko M.P., the forest reserve, to the Bontoc Chico River. This is the water that will be used to turn the turbines of the run-off mini hydro in a tunnel to produce electricity, this water will be the basis of the company to implement the their corporate social responsibility to build access roads for the residents and create jobs for them, and to pay taxes on the local government that will be used for projects that will benefit the community. It seems that development is on its way for the people of Sabangan.

Culture and the IPs of Sabangan

Water has always been respected and regarded as mythical in the province. The Inudey Falls near the area even relates a myth or a story of a man who paid the price for defecating in the water - his anal orifice became the passageway of water. The story is a bit weird but it made a point of culture that respects the water, or nature as a whole. That is why, in the series of consultation where I attended, many elders expressed their concerns on the process of the development. They fear that the waters will stop itself from going to their farms if it is disturbed by wrong development, they fear the effect of the cutting of some trees that will be necessary for the access road that is required by the project.

It was a natural tendency for the people of Sabangan to be concerned with the effect of the project to their ecosystem, and their way of life. Some opposed the proposal, but many insisted on the need for it, considering that in the present, their children are migrating to urbanized cities and towns for work. In 2010, the LGU of La Trinidad demolished illegal shanties at Dreamland, Pico that was squatted by hundreds of families who are mostly from Sabangan, Mt. Province. The expressions of these concerns were dramatic. I personally debated with myself if the mammoth company will change their lives for the better, or not.

Tongtongan: The culture of consultation and communication

In a series of consultation initiated by the NCIP-SABATA, the people of Sabangan especially from Napua and Namatec were brought to face the Project Proponent, Hedcor Inc., and discuss issues related to the project. All institutions within society facilitate communication, and in that way, they all contribute to the creation, spread, of idea and even culture. Communication media such as television, film, radio, newspapers, magazines, computers, and the Internet play a particularly important role, however, before these tools was a mode of communication that involves the participation of the parties in a developmental endeavor. Tongtongan was an old age tradition of consultation and communication and at the same time, a culture. It should be remembered that I suggested the intimate relationship of the two, and went as far to imply that both are products of each other.

The tongtongan helped the Indigenous Peoples of Sabangan decide whether they want the project or not. As a guaranty of the IPRA law, a free and prior informed consent was needed from the people before a certification to start the project from the NCIP will be released for the proponent. The IPRA law also guaranties that the consent will be given after consulting the people preferably through the existing and respected tradition of knowing the pulse of the people. Thus, the tongtongan was the perfect avenue for the people of Sabangan to inquire, even to negotiate with the project proponent. The event was naturally attended by elders or the ‘nanakays’, a crucial element to the traditional dialogue, the barangay and local officials, and every stakeholder in the area. A presentation was prepared by the project proponent and their personnel to show the advantages and disadvantages of said project, and asked the people for suggestion on how to alleviate poverty, especially in some far areas of the municipality.

Meeting of the Minds

In 2011, Memorandum of Agreement was signed by the three levels of government namely, the barangay, the municipal, and the provincial, with the project proponent, Hedcor Inc., after series of consultations that drew and outlined an understanding of what the proponent should do and not to do if they allow the project, taking in consideration the environmental, social, economic, and other aspects that will be affected by the project. Aside from taxes and royalties, stakeholders will be rewarded with infrastructure projects and even jobs, the project is expected to pave the way for development, as they choose to and as outlined in their agreement. (BusinessMirror, 2011)

To further stress the idea that the hydropower will be for the people, the Sabangan project will be carried out with the name Hedcor Sabangan Inc. after the signed  memorandum of agreement with the indigenous peoples of barangay Namatec and Napua and the municipality of Sabangan for said project. Baguionews, 2011)

The role of communication and culture to the developmental project

The basis of this project for the proponent is not just for profit but perhaps to realize their goal of cheap electricity that will be available for all. Unlike mining which is much unpopular, the mini-hydro project is a result of a demand which people also created. People use electricity, people invented gadgets that must use electricity, and people depend on this type of energy. The challenge, however, is how to communicate this proposal to the affected community, or to the affected Indigenous Peoples. The culture of tongtongan encouraged, not just the absorption of information, but also negotiation and the process of give and take, or compromise that will satisfy the concerns of each party. Without this culture, which is also a way of communicating, the developmental project will not be realized. 

Without communication, there will be no such thing as a sound and perfect developmental project for the people because the people will oppose such project resulting to unrealized investments. Without communication and without the proponents’ decision to consider the existing culture of the people of Sabangan, the MOA could have just been a mere scrap of paper. There could have been no musings of development, at least for the Indigenous Peoples of Sabangan, Mountain Province.

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* Note (2014): The author condemns the Contractor 'Sta. Clara' , and other enterprising officials for starting/implementing the project with less regard to the environment and respected tourism spots in the area. We hope that this issue will be addressed and Hedcor be alarmed. Inayan pay sa!