The Evolution of Batak Settlement Pattern, 1880–1980

Two major changes in Batak settlement pattern occurred after contact with lowland peoples and social systems inten-

sified. The first, dating to the closing decades of the nineteenth century, was the emergence of a pattern of seasonal residence in upland rice fields. The second, dating to the early decades of the twentieth century, was the emergence of a pattern of seasonal residence in lowland-style “settlements.” Each change fundamentally reoriented Batak economic affairs and social relationships toward greater participation in lowland Philippine society, even as each change reflected, in part, incremental land alienation and other threats to Batak resources by Filipino settlers.

Only after the arrival of lowland settlers in Palawan, it is said, did Batak involvement with agriculture intensify to the extent that they actually lived in their fields. Before this time, particularly when root crops still dominated Batak agriculture, fields were visited periodically but were not occupied for any extended period. When the Batak first began to live in their agricultural fields, it is said, all the households in the same swidden cluster lived together in the same large dwelling. As many as fifteen households could share a dwelling, which consisted of a large central room surrounded by a series of small apartmentlike rooms. In these smaller rooms, individual households had their own hearths and lived with their infant children; in the central room, older children slept together and were fed jointly by the adult residents. Similar dwellings are found today among some of the remoter groups of Palawano. Only the oldest Batak still remember such dwellings, which soon gave way to smaller swidden field houses more like those of the Batak's Cuyonon and Tagbanua neighbors. In this fashion, a pattern of seasonal residence in agricultural fields was established. During the off-season, however, the Batak presumably continued to live much as they had before, in temporary forest camps.

This settlement pattern had undergone further change by the 1920s. Under a variety of local auspices, lowland settlers and officials began to encourage the Batak to establish permanent settlements. In about 1910, for example, the governor of Palawan asked the Batak inhabiting the Tanabag River region to make way for lowland colonization there by es-

tablishing a settlement of their own on the coastal plain at nearby Sumurod (Warren 1964:30–33). In 1930, five of the “rancherias” thus established were declared by the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes to be reserved for the Batak's exclusive use. Figure 3 shows the historical locations of these five reservations and their relationships with present-day lowland communities and Batak settlements. Despite government encouragement, the Batak never occupied their reservations full-time, although they did build houses and plant some tree crops on them, which was consistent with the government's intent in setting aside the land for their use.

Actually, the government's purpose in establishing the reservations is unclear. The “civilizing” of tribal populations was, of course, everywhere a motive in the American-administered Philippines. One entailment of reservation life still unhappily recalled by the oldest Batak was the official dictum that cooking fires should be outside the house or at least in a separate room, as among lowlanders, rather than inside, adjacent to sleeping areas, as was customary among the Batak. For people unable to afford blankets and long accustomed to keeping warm by the heat of a fire, this bit of “civilization” was a definite hardship. More practically, settling the Batak on the coastal plain would facilitate the provision of education and medical services.

Securing at least some aboriginal Batak territory against encroachment by lowland settlers was also a motive for establishing the reservations. But lands ostensibly set aside were of uncertain legal status and, in any case, would have been inadequate for Batak subsistence under all but the most intensive agricultural regimes. During the 1930s, as many as forty to fifty Batak households were associated with some reservations, but reservation areas were only on the order of 8 to 40 hectares. In these circumstances, foraging trips to the interior remained essential, and a Batak's reservation house became a sort of base for operations during the off-season, much as his field house had already become such a base during the agricultural season.

Figure 3

In any event, lowland colonization proved overwhelming. Table 3 shows the striking population growth that occurred between 1900 and 1980 in Palawan Province. Most of this growth took place on Palawan Island, where the number of inhabitants has increased twenty-five-fold since the turn of the century. Particularly apparent is the large surge in immigration to Palawan Island following World War II. This resulted in the establishment of a string of settler villages along the island's coastal plain (see, e.g., Eder 1982). As these villages were established and the coastal plain filled up in aboriginal Batak territory, other changes inevitably followed. Copal, honey, and rattan concessions were granted to politically influential lowlanders, and collection and exchange of these commodities by the Batak grew in economic importance. Everywhere wage labor grew in importance also, as lowland farmers employed Batak to help clear and plant their homesteads. No road entered Batak territory until after World War II; for years, the highway leading north from Puerto Princesa stopped at the Babuyan River (see fig. 3). But in 1956, the Babuyan River bridge was constructed, and the road was extended to Tarabanan. In 1970, the road was extended to Binduyan and soon after, to Langogan. By 1975, the highway was open all the way to Roxas.

Even before the highway came, however, the Batak reservations were overrun by settlers. In some cases, Batak were actively intimidated into leaving their land by aggressive Filipinos. Elsewhere, there appears to have been considerable truth to the claim of early settlers that the Batak simply “left,” not wanting, it is said, to mingle with outsiders. Indeed, some lowlanders even paid particular Batak for improvements they had made on reservation land before vacating it. A number of Batak at the Lipsu and Calacuasan settlements can still point to downstream stands of coconuts that they “sold” to lowlanders. The reservation at Mapned (fig. 3) was abandoned by Batak before World War II; the other four were abandoned soon after. During the 1950s, the government acknowledged political reality and revoked

all the reservation decrees, enabling those lowland settlers then occupying the land to file homestead applications. More recent, but similarly unsuccessful, government efforts to reserve land for the Batak are discussed in chapter 6.

However ineffectual the reservations ultimately proved in terms of their intended purpose, their creation and dissolution exerted a lasting influence on Batak settlement pattern. Batak evidently found settlement living congenial, for even before their official reservations had been fully overrun by lowlanders, the Batak had begun to live part-time in more isolated reservationlike settlements of their own. Each local group has, on several occasions, relocated its settlement site farther up its respective river valley, moving just ahead of advancing lowland populations. Thus, the Batak did not embark on a wholesale retreat to the interior after the arrival of lowlanders. Instead, in a stepwise series of movements of only a few kilometers each, they have maintained some degree of isolation while keeping a convenient spatial relationship with both forest resources and the lowlanders.

Figure 4 illustrates the settlement site history of five contemporary Batak local groups, dating the series of movements that occurred as each group moved toward the interior following the postwar abandonment of the three reservations involved. This history is somewhat simplified, for there were some years when certain local groups failed to aggregate in any permanent settlement at all but simply alternated between forest and swidden field residence, as in years past. Also, no account is taken of the complete disruption of Batak settlement pattern caused by the abortive 1969 PANAMIN resettlement attempt (chap. 6). But the overall pattern of Batak retreating to smaller and more fragmented interior settlements is clear.

It is difficult to identify formally the geographic boundaries of Batak territory today. In some senses, it remains the same as their aboriginal territory (described in chap. 2 and shown in fig. 2). The Batak still reside within this territory and retain an extensive knowledge of its features and re-

Figure 4

sources. Two important differences with the past arise, however, because now outsiders also reside in this territory. First, the coastal plain—and, increasingly, portions of foothill and upriver areas—is extensively occupied by lowland Filipinos. Batak now rarely visit these areas. Second, while most of the traditional Batak territory still seems to be open to them, there is a pervasive insecurity about their tenurial status. Legally, the Batak are “indigenous inhabitants” on public forest land not yet officially released for settlement by the Bureau of Forest Development. If this land is released, the Batak face an unequal competition with lowland settlers for private ownership. Batak land has been alienated in the past, and, with considerable justification, they fear that more will be alienated in the future. The most likely outcome over the near term is a continuation of the pattern of the past several decades: each local group is periodically pushed still farther into the interior, losing existing dwellings and agricultural improvements.