Found in a mountain east of San Mateo, Rizal, a municipality that is past northeast of the National Capital Region, there is a humble but steadfast community of farmers protecting the beauty of their landscape.

The Sitio Paruwagan United Farmers Association, Inc. (SPUFAI) is an organization that lives and farms in the forests of Mount Parawagan. From the base to the top of the mountain, residents grow bananas, jackfruits, durians, and coconuts, among many other fruits, vegetables and types of produce. Aside from farming, the community has opened its doors to adventure-seeking hikers with their hiking trails and campsites.

As part of their CBFM, they had initially proposed to go into producing and selling bamboo charcoal products. However, since the project was initially given their grant, the realization of creating their forest products had taken some unforeseen circumstances.

Access to the community site starts from the asphalt winding road that twists and turns around the mountain range. Halfway up Mount Parawagan, a 10-foot-tall welcome arch made from bamboo grown by some of the farmers can be found just a few steps from the main road, leading to the dirt road walked everyday by their residents.

The welcome arch greets visitors from the side of the main road. (Image by: Gab Villapando)

“Isa ito sa mga project na sinimulan ko last year,” (“This is one of the projects I initiated last year,”) said Nemia Magno about the welcome arch. “Kailangan din iyan para mahanap din kami ng bumibisitang mga turista.” (That is necessary so that we can be found by visiting tourists.)

Rodulfo Magno sitting on the viewing deck of one of the campsites. (Image by: Gab Villapando)

Nemia, along with her husband Rodulfo, moved to Sitio Paruwagan from Iloilo after being offered a sizable plot of land to own and manage. Since then, they have been pillars of their community, further proven by Nemia being elected to her first term as their organization’s president in 2023.

Based on the feedback from the community, she set out to make the community feel safer after reports of trespassing from non-residents and internal disputes from before her term.

“Noong umupo na si Ma’am [Nemia], nabulatlat na yung mga dokumento,” (“Once Ma’am [Nemia] was elected, the documents were exposed,”) said Jose, a longtime resident of the community from before the Magno’s moved to Sitio Paruwagan, about how the previous leadership withheld funding for their projects, including those supposed to be for the site’s CBFM.

“Noong inaprubahan namin na project, sabi niya [the former president] darating na lang. Akala namin hindi pa dumating. Nalaman naming noong bandang huli na dumating na. Natanggap niya na pala ang pera.” (“When we approved the project, they [the former president] said that it will just arrive. We thought it had not yet arrived. We only found out near the end that it had arrived already. It turned out that he had received the money.”)

It turned out that the former president had also worked with outside influences, who were behind the trespassing incidents, in order to seize plots of land entitled to SPUFAI for their own interests and barricaded them with ropes and bamboo to keep residents away from land owed to them.

After they had been elected, Nemia and the other elected officials of their community mounted a central guardhouse at the end of the road after the entrance to the community.

“Pwede na kami rito mag-assign ng mag-duty na bantayan yung papasok sa sitio. Pero di lang po siya guardhouse. May space din na maytable sa gitna para meron na kaming pwedeng pag-meetingan. Kapag may kailangan na i-report, pwede na iyon iparating dito at dito rin kami mismo magpupulong-pulong.” (“We can now assign people to be on duty to guard over our entrance. But this is not just a guardhouse. We now have a space with a table in the middle so that we can have our meetings. If there is anything to be reported, it can be brought there and we can also gather there to discuss the matter.”)

Early in her term, Nemia started the guardhouse project, which was fully built in 2024. (Image by: Gab Villapando)

Despite the setbacks brought by their previous management and the current struggles inside their own community, SPUFAI is confident that it can make the community serve the community again. While the projects that her term has initiated are not large in scale or related directly to CBFM, they are necessary building blocks in turning their fortunes around.

ASSERT-CBFM was a 32-month project funded by the Forest Foundation Philippines, aiming to enhance Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) in relation to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the Philippines. The project focused on assessing, engaging, and building the capacity of CBFM stakeholders through collaborative learning and knowledge exchange. It also aimed to formulate and elevate policy recommendations to national mechanisms on NDCs. Implemented by NTFP-EP Asia and its partners, the project ran from 2020 to 2022. ASSERT-CBFM 2, a nine-month continuation, documented lessons from CBFM organizations that received small grants for ecosystem-based adaptation and green business initiatives, awarding a total of PhP1,850,000 to ten organizations.