All roads led to General Nakar, Quezon, Philippines when the honey processing center and buying station was officially opened last October 14!

The 24-square meter honey processing center was constructed inside the compound of the Sentrong Paaralan ng mga Agta (SPA) or the Dumagat-Agta tribal school in Barangay Catablingan, General Nakar, Quezon Province, in the heart of the Sierra Madre mountain range.

The event gathered around 200 Dumagat-Agtas from 32 communities, NGO support groups, and government agencies. The honey processing center is one of the support projects to the enterprise development component of the Community Carbon Pool Project (C2P2) by NTFP-Task Force together with the Fauna and Flora International-Philippines and the Tribal Center for Development with funding support from the Team Energy Foundation Inc. (TEFI).

Aside from the opening and blessing of the honey processing center, solar panels were also installed by TEFI to jumpstart the processing of honey. There were also books donated for the school library and vitamins and medicines for the students.

Also in attendance were National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Commisioner Conchita Calzado who hailed from General Nakar and a Dumagat-Agta herself, and NCIP Provincial Office OIC Benedict Maloles.

The honey processing center will be managed by KOMOT, the enterprise group under SAGIBIN-LN, the IP partner-organization of C2P2. Aside from honey, the group is also starting to focus on processing other food products such as the wild pili nuts (locally known as pilaway) as there is an abundance of these nuts in the area.

All the NGO support groups are hopeful and positive that this will be the start of a sweet and enterprising journey for the Dumagat-Agtas of Quezon!