Acacia-yang: The Impact of Clear-cutting Acacia Trees

on the Cultural Survival of Carcar City

Rationale

Understanding the importance of trees in our lives and do our best to save trees
in order to save lives, save environment on the earth and make earth a green earth.
Trees gives us oxygen, cool air, fruits, spices, vegetables, medicines, water, wood,
furniture, shadow and it gives beauty to our environment. They help us from cleaning
our environment so, we are also responsible and try our best to protect them. It also
contributes people by surveying the physical environment in order to meet their wants
from cultural resources. Trees also have a sacred status that are used in rituals or have
a symbolic importance for ethnicity, identity and connection to a place. It is said that in
many culture trees are said to hold the spirits of our love one after they pass. Trees also
play its role as an audience or witness the different cultures evolve and change
overtime.

Everyone concerned upon hearing and reading the news about cutting the
Century Old Acacia trees from Naga to Carcar for the reason of having road widening.
However, it could affect about how people used to have cool air and could cause
climate change, desertification, flood and heat temperature of that place will arise.
Sacrificing Earth’s lungs for our human convenience is not a solution in fact it affects the
name of its place, and could lose happiness of every people living in that community.
Carcar City is known as “The heritage City” in southern part of Cebu, upon planning of
cutting trees could affect of its name. A place known as “Heritage City” is destroying its
one of its pride the Acacia trees and people in there will lose one of its known Acacia
Cave. It is an inheritance that our ancestors gave, a big part of our culture in which a
significant thing that need our protection and need to be preserved. Our ancestors gave
us gifts that can connect us from past up to this generation and will be a big insult to
them because it looks like we are cutting strings from them to us.
 According to Gregory Hamel, July 21, 2017 “Cutting down trees is necessary to
produce wood for construction, paper and other applications, but logging and other
activities that kill trees can potentially lead to negative impacts on ecosystems and the
environment as whole. Large scale tree cutting can lead to deforestation, a
transformation of an area from forest to terrain with little vegetation. Plants create
oxygen and absorb greenhouse gases. The destruction of trees may, therefore
encourage global warming.” It may also affect relationship between communities and
nature. Most societies hold cultural beliefs that have sustained their society, sometimes
for millennia. Ecosystem contributed a big part of our world and it helps us grow with
histories learned from past. Upon planning such idea they should also perceive what
may happen after. There should be a perception from the people and its place where it
is living. People don’t want a flip answer like “It doesn’t work” yet they already destroyed
the place and erasing the bond between them and their ancestors that teach them of
how to protect their treasures.

Trees are a precious gifts and a treasure given by our ancestors and to the
nature. So, we are responsible and try our best to protect them. Trees are just standing
there, growing and contributing people. Cutting trees even in emergency is not a
solution, but instead they preserved and protect it. We are the one who came after them
and it is not our duty to cut them off because of our safety and security. Humans could
find better ways to avoid road danger than cutting down the century-old trees. We can
protect ourselves without cutting trees. It is not the trees who caused us accidents but,
we people did. Trees are innocent witnessing people’s culture that changing overtime.
 South’s ChameleoNaga : Identifying Nagahanon’s Crisis

towards Mistaken Identity and Culture

Rationale

Witchcraft is the power to control natural forces through supernatural means, or

in other word witchcraft communicate with the devil. According to Martin Luther, founder
of the Lutheran Church, preached that witches worked for the devil, stole, created
storms, rude on goats and broomsticks, maimed people, tortured babies, forced people
into immorality and love, and transformed humans into different creatures. Witchcraft is
a very interesting topic which is highly misunderstood by society. These people of
nature have a way of life that made the researchers want to know more about them, if
they are truly exist or not. Many of the alleged witches were accused as such through
superstitions and fear. People created superstitions as a way of explaining what witches
were and the evils deeds they performed. Their fears came from these superstitions,
and from being harmed by witches. They often seem bizarre and are mostly outcast
from the “norm” of society.

It's a very beautiful thing when traditions and stories are passed down from
generation to generation. In the Philippines, part of this is the sharing of superstitions
that can be traced back to before the Spanish arrived. Unfortunately, these superstitions
have a darker side. Without understanding the history behind them, they can create
panic and damaging knee-jerk reactions. These beliefs are not only fascinating, but are
tied directly into history.

Filipinos are familiar with the aswang, a shape-shifting creature of Philippine

folklore that preys on animals and humans at night. According to Professor Anthony Lim
(August 1, 2012) ,a historian, the various definitions of aswang have been around for
hundreds of years, that Malay bring the belief of aswang in 1200. And the term
“aswang” came from the word “aso-wang” since the usual form of aswang is dog or
“aso”. Beliefs in witchcraft seemed to be almost universal in human societies. In Naga’s
early society, many Nagahanons developed a heightened concern with the
phenomenon/ occurrence of witchcraft. This belief led to widespread prosecutions in
which thousands of Nagahanons, both women and men, were executed as witches.

But the researchers did not really focused with the witchcraft in Naga but
focusing the mistaken identity of Naga, that Naga is a town of witchcraft or “aswang”. —
At the heart of most multicultural philosophies is the belief that an individual’s cultural
background frames their identity and helps define who they are. If the researchers want
to treat individuals with dignity and respect the researchers must also treat with dignity
and respect the groups that furnish them with their sense of personal being. People
cannot, in other words, treat individuals equally unless groups are also treated equally.
And since, in the words of the American theorist Iris Young, “groups cannot be socially
equal unless their specific experience, culture and social contributions are publicly
affirmed and recognised”, society must protect and nurture cultures, ensure their
flourishing and indeed their survival. According to Colin McDonald, a Darwin barrister
and expert in customary law, “human rights are essentially a creation of the last
hundred years. These people have been carrying out their law for thousands of years.”
Some multiculturalists go further, requiring the state to ensure the survival of cultures
not just in the present but in perpetuity. That the relationship between cultural identity
and racial difference becomes even clearer if people look at the argument that cultures
must be protected and preserved. The political philosopher Will Kymlicka argues that
since cultures are essential to people’s lives, where “the survival of a culture is not
guaranteed, and, where it is threatened with debasement or decay, we must act to
protect it.” For Charles Taylor, once “we’re concerned with identity”, nothing “is more
legitimate than one’s aspiration that it is never lost.” Kymlicka draws a distinction
between the “existence of a culture” and “its ‘character’ at any given moment”. The
character of culture can change but such changes are only acceptable if the existence
of that culture is not threatened. But how can a culture exist if that existence is not
embodied in its character. By “character” Kymlicka seems to mean the actuality of a
culture: what people do, how they live their lives, the rules and regulations and
institutions that frame their existence. So, in making the distinction between character
and existence, if a culture is not defined by what its members are doing, the only
answer can be that it is defined by what its members should be doing. And what should
be people doing, for cultural preservationists, is what their ancestors were doing.
Culture here has become defined by biological descent. And biological descent is a
polite way of saying “race”. As the American writer Walter Benn Michaels puts it, “in
order for a culture to be lost ... it must be separable from one’s actual behaviour, and in
order for it to be separable from one’s actual behaviour it must be anchorable in race.”
“Every society, every nation is unique,” claimed Enoch Powell, the most vocal opponent
of black immigration in postwar Britain. “It has its own past, its own story, its own
memories, its own languages or ways of speaking, its own – dare I use the word –
culture.”

The researchers would like to conduct this proposal, for some reason, the
researchers want to seek the truth behind all the fallacy executed that Nagahanons are
“aswang”. The researchers took the change to find problems about the issue that might
affect the people in Naga. The researchers rely into this questions:

1)After the fallacious issue, Nagahanons had a low esteem to represent their city.

2)Some of Nagahanons got bullied and discriminated by the presences of the

people surrounds.

3)Nagahanons affraid that this crisis continued all way down.

4)Some of the children in Naga might get trauma from calling them has aswang.

5)Other people using Naga as a threat for their children. That Naga is a home of
witchcraft or “aswang”.

The researchers suggested solutions are to be more aware of cultural differences

and potential challenges students may face when adjusting. Be explicit with your
expectations. Model your expectations. Represent the material in various ways. Provide
multiple opportunities for interaction and always seek empirical evidences before
building conclusions.

According to Karl R. De Mesa, author of Radiant Void, “It’s no longer

superstitions. It’s a kind of cultural construct that embodies your identity”.
 MeDia-gnosis : Examining Media Misrepresentations

of Culture and Arts of Filipinos

Rationale

Media, as a powerful social system, plays an important role in creating a person’s

sense of reality (Gergen, 1999). Media has played a role in transmitting culture and arts
around the world. From print, electronic, down to social media, variety of platforms have
become main sources of information and influenced the thoughts of people. Culture
being the foundation of one's values and norms, is learned and transmitted from
generation to generation. It “is an integrating mechanism” (Geertz, 1973; Schein,
1983). With the advent of technology, utilizing media in representing culture reaches
large number of audiences and created conflicts of different opinions and beliefs. This
study aims to identify the gaps of using media in representing culture and arts and
propose solutions to those gaps.

Such gaps of media in culture:

1. Selective Exposure (choosing only famous or known culture to be featured)

2. Media Target Markets (the type of audience that the media holds)

3. Stored information (Close minded information)

4. Misrepresentation of Information

5. Social Conformity (conforming to one’s norms, values, and sentiments)

A Spanish-produced animated film entitled "Elcano and Magellan: The First

Voyage arounf the World" featuring the Battle of Mactan has received backlash due to
misrepresentation of history and culture of Filipinos, specifically Cebuanos. In this film,
Philippines' national hero Lapu-Lapu is depicted as a villain who fought Magellan. A
massive outrage has been received by the CrystalSky Multimedia (the film's Philippine
distributor) for the film's historical inaccuracies. The natives inhabiting Mactan island
were depicted as uncivilized humans in the film. The clothing being worn by natives are
also inaccurate.

The island of Lapu-Lapu being misrepresented as an uncivilized community

shows the obvious biases and glorification of colonizers during pre-colonial era. Since
the film was produced in a Western perspective, Magellan and the Spaniards are
depicted with good image. “I can tell the atrocities my ancestors were exposed to will
not be in the film (the burning of our writings, the rape and killing of our spiritual leaders,
etc.),” Mikael S. Diola, a scriptwriter based in Davao City, wrote in the campaign’s
description. “The Filipinos in the film are also shown to be savages when in reality, that
is far from the truth. We were kingdoms that already had diplomatic relationships with
other Asian countries, had complex social classes and laws and civilized enough to
celebrate art.”, (Asian Journal, 2019).

Amidst the issues circulating about the film, the National Historical Commission
of the Philippines (NHCP) encourages Filipinos to respect the artistic freedom of the film
and instead be critical and open to learning more about their ancestors (NHCP, 2019).
“One must understand the nature of history as biased, subjective and selective,” the
NHCP said, adding that Elcano and Magellan conforms to the Spanish point of view of
history. According to Xiao Chua (2019), this film should not be boycotted for it only
shows how hypocrite our idea of liberalism is. Rather, the film is “ a chance to educate,
to talk about it.”

According to Pauline Miranda (2018) many Filipinos were outraged over the
misrepresentation of the Philippine culture in Conde Nast Traveler’s show, Many
People, Many Places. The show has been going viral lately for its videos where people
of diverse nationalities share how they do or say specific things in their countries. May it
be simple things like counting, how they say “cheers” or singing happy birthday.
 Many Filipino netizens had called out the show asking them to replace the
Filipina Representative of the Philippines in the video as she and hers answers did not
reflect the culture she’s supposed to stand for. What triggered most netizens was the
representatives lack of knowledge of traditional Filipino cultural aspects like tongue
twister. Every child that has gone to a normal grade school in the Philippines would at
least know one Filipino toungue twister sush as; Pitumpu’t pitong putting tupa, Ang relo
ni Leroy ay Rolex and etc. She shouldn’t have said, “There’s really no tongue twister.”
Instead, she should’ve just said she couldn’t remember any. And just to be fair, she
wasn’t the only one among the 70 “representatives” who couldn’t come up with tongue
twisters. There still a misrepresentation that created a gap in representing culture.

“Misconceptions may occur in the context of mediating cultural differences which

is inherently complex and diverse.” (Kitane, 2012). In her study on the Representation of
Visayan Women on Philippine Televisdion, findings showed that majority of the
representation of Visayan Women portrayed as members of the economic strata. They
are either be shown as a woman working in a service-oriented position (housewife,
maid, tourist guide, yaya, cook, etc.) or in a helpless position (epileptic, stuck in debt).
Visayans are often portrayed as those who speak heavily accented Tagalog in which
they are ridiculed because of the impression that Visayans speak Tagalog in a funny
way. Though it is a common belief that most household helpers in Manila are Visayans,
it is still a bad idea to brand them as mere lowlifes. This created a misrepresentations of
Bisaya identity and culture.

Social Process: ACCOMODATION

Human society is composed of antagonistic elements and hence conflicts are

inevitable. No society can function smoothly if the individuals and groups are always
engaged in conflict. They must have to make efforts to resolve conflicts, so
accommodation is very much necessary.
 Our view of history has biases that are commonly based on national sentiment.
Somehow, it created conflicts within opposing perspectives like the Western's on
history. Tolerating one's view shows willingness to accept behaviours and beliefs that
are different from your own, although you might not agree with or approve of them.

Media can become a tool of being the mediator of conflicts. Using media to
resolve disputes of opposing views can promote open-minded discourses and
dialogues. A pluralistic community with diverse culture can trigger conflicts. Tolerance is
one way of accommodating diversity conflicts as it removes self-imposed barriers and
allows each other to voice their opinions.
 Bisdak-onflicts : Relating Accent Discreteness

to Language Barriers within Cebu

Rationale

There are over 170 native languages in the Philippines and visayan language is
one of this native language. In fact, the visayan language has been a part of the Filipino
culture. However, there are criticism about the accent and pronunciation of the
Cebuano. Filipino blogger Jason Paul Laxamana wrote against how “we stereotype
people coming from the provinces and treat them with less respect and how someone
with a thick visayan accent often deemed synonymous to being illiterate and ignorant:”
(Laxamana, 2007)

The researcher chose to delve on this study for they concede that it is
uncommon for everyone but happen prevalently in other community or any setting.
Even our fellow Cebuano misinterpret each other because of their discrete accents.
Furthermore, to understand the study, here is an instance of Cebuano to Cebuano
misinterpreting and misunderstanding each other because of their accent.

C1: Nindut kung hapon (time)

C2: ay! Dili nako type ang hapon (person)

C1: huh? Dapat jud diay nimu ma typan?

C2: oh arun mas pasok sa imuhang taste!

C1: hapon uy! Kanang buntag udto hapon. Laaaah ged ka.

C2: aw. Abi nako! Ikaw man gud imung inistoryaan kay yaya kaayu nya naa pa
juy tuno.
 There are many Cebuano who has the accent. These following
municipalities are commonly known for their accent Alegria, Badian, Bantayan,
Dalaguet and Samboan. Located at the southern part of Cebu, their dialects and
accents are foreign to the other part of Cebu that causes misinterpretation and
misunderstanding. These gaps in some cases, the "mispronunciation" or the "Accent"
could hinder one's comprehension. If others pronounce or say the word differently you'll
eventually catch on but for a while you have no idea what they are talking about even if
you are familiar with the term being pronounced. Although, some Cebuanos observed
phonological pattern but still other Cebuanos remained opaque of the mispronunciation
and accents of other Cebuano.

These are the proposed solutions of the researchers:

•Everyone should get in the habit of using plain language (without the accent)
whenever possible.

•People often need to hear something more than once to understand and
remember it.

•Ensure that when you or your team are struggling to communicate that you
never raised your voice over or over enunciate.

•Lastly, Talk slower instead of louder, clearly instead of forcefully.