On Hindsight: Intersections of Heritage and COVID-19 in the Philippines Pandemic Experience

Historical Pandemics in the Philippines

Historically, the Philippines has experienced a cycle of pandemics every hundred years (Vivas, 2020). The impact resulted to immediate slump on the growth of population and the economy, but conversely produced a number of policy and practical adaptations of society. Studies covered the pandemics of cholera in the 1820s and the Spanish flu in the 1920s.

Herbal Medicine: Natural Heritage and COVID-19 Pandemic

The mysterious origin of the COVID-19 virus raised uncertainty that caused panic worldwide. The Chinese news agency established Wuhan as the site of origin, but whether it was from a public market of trading for exotic animals or from a high-security laboratory for research remained conjecture. Research revealed that Sars Covid virus had always been associated with bats and monkeys in the tropics but the COVID-19 strain needed further studies.

The visual images of sick people that pass out in the streets and strained hospitals all over the world were live-streamed by broadcast and social media. Medical professional frontliners, the first line of defence, became vulnerable to the COVID-19 attack and many lost their lives. Information on the symptoms of the disease was extensively disseminated and monitored- coughs, fever, sore throat, shortness of breath and flu, to forcibly transfer contaminated individuals to quarantine facilities. Every community practiced vigilance towards any indication of COVID-19 spread.

The standard precautionary paraphernalia were distributed to everybody. Initially, the prices of safety gears skyrocketed, but this eventually levelled off. Enforced practices were wearing a face mask and face shield, constant washing of hands, social distancing and accessing open-air spaces. Without hesitancy, people experimented on almost anything to be spared from COVID-19 contamination (Cordero, 2022).

Thus, many returned to their heritage practices of traditional balance of well-being through herbal medicine (Planta, 2017). Motherly formulations such as tuob (inhalation of steam from boiled water) and drinking of concoction with boiled lagundi leaves were recommended. The revival of heritage practices provided a sense of security and extended the curative feeling to those who could not afford Western medicine and safety gears.

Traditional herbal medicine became a popular research topic and social media and Zoom discussions. As the road to vaccine development was fast-tracked, medical journals highlighted the merits of natural healing. In one research, the study mentioned specific plants in the surroundings that contained immune efficiency characteristics. These were Allium spp. bulbs (bawang), Andrographis paniculate (Burm.f.), Nees leaves (sinta), Cocos nucifera L. oil (niyog), Euphorbia hirta L. leaves (tawa-tawa), Euphorbia neriifolia L. leaves (sorosoro), Moringa oleifera Lam. Leaves (malunggay), Ocinum basilicum L. leaves (balanoy), Piper nigrum L. seeds (paminta), Vitex negundo L. leaves (lagundi), and Zingiber officinale Roscoe rhizome (luya) (Dayrit et al., 2021).

This case study on the intersection between natural heritage and COVID-19 epidemic focused on the aspect of cure. Admittedly, there was a high level of hesitancy and apprehension with regards to Western medicines due to price and accessibility. Traditional practices of herbal therapy handed down through generations provided a sense of familiarity and security for families. With the social media’s popularization of returning to natural healing, reinforced by scientific studies on herbal medicine, Filipinos easily embraced the natural approach provided by common plants from the surroundings.

This scenario surfaced traditional values of environmental responsibility towards a holistic well-being. Just as nature could be the source of unprecedented and deadlier virus, it was likewise the ultimate ingredient in the formulation of the vaccine.

Urban Bahay Kubo: Built Heritage and COVID-19 Pandemic

Food security became a grave concern at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Food sources and food baskets of the Philippines were handicapped because of the limited mobility of people, transportation and finances. On the supply side, the vegetable farms of northern Luzon, such as Benguet and Mountain Provinces, and the rice granary of the central plains, such as Nueva Ecija, were confined to their regions and entailed layers of documentation before the food businesses were allowed. On the consumer side, only one person was allowed to go to the market and groceries to buy the basic food necessities. Small and medium food businesses were shut down and closed because of the slumping economy. This situation impressed the imperative role of food and agriculture to society. Once again, the critical role of farmers and fisherman became an advocacy for which they have been underestimated by development planners for a long time.

The scenario likewise placed a burden on local governments to urgently mobilize food supply to their communities. The City of Gapan distributed a sack of rice to all their residents. The City of Ormoc provided a whole pig to every household. For the communities in the big city centres, mobile grocery trucks were deployed to strategic areas to allow people to do market. In very remote mountain areas, food packs were dropped from army planes and helicopters. The national government implemented its food programme through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through ayuda or relief programme. The Department of Agriculture amplified its call towards urban agriculture. Suddenly food and all its related issues became amplified during the pandemic (Department of Agriculture, 2022).

Food security is well articulated in the classic Filipino song Bahay Kubo. The standard song, taught during the elementary grades in the education system, highlights the lowly country house with a thatched roof and stilts, surrounded by an enumeration of local vegetables. Historically, the bahay kubo was a pre-colonial dwelling built adjacent to an agricultural food source whether a slash-and-burn practice for rice or root crop planting (Zialcita & Tinio, 1997, pp. 11–22). The message of the song resonated loud and clear to all Filipinos, especially the urban dwellers who were deprived of their access to healthy, green vegetables and their fresh rural settings.

Grounded on the heritage of the Bahay Kubo, the urban agriculture movement became a logical adaptation as a practical and eco-friendly solution to the pandemic situation. Urban dwellers planted consumables, particularly vegetables in their small pots and plots. High-rise condominium dwellers developed agricultural gardens along their balconies. Hydroponic technologies and vertical gardening became popular community programmes that filled and occupied empty lots.

The concept of agricultural architecture evolved with ‘Agritectura’ (https://www.facebook.com/agritektura/). This acronym came from ‘agri’ of agriculture and ‘tura’ for architecture, initiated and advocated by promising architect Francis Neil Quijano. He was inspired by the food constraints brought by the pandemic. It stands for agriculture, architecture, technology, education, environment, health, history, commerce, community, communication, tourism and culture. In the ASEAN Conference for Building Innovation Science, he elaborated on the movement as ‘permaship: the development of communities that are permanent, sustainable, smart, holistic, healthy, integrated and integrated protofarms’.

This case study on built heritage and COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the aspect of management. Referenced from the composition of the typical Bahay Kubo, COVID-19 conditioned lockdown households to practice green architecture and urban farming. The management of the crisis did not concentrate on the ayuda of the government and relief organizations. This was demonstrated in the early waves of the government’s welfare mechanism that relied heavily on regular food packages and issued market passes. Eventually, local communities reported on the resourcefulness of people to develop projects on food security. Thus, the management aspect of the crises was not top-down but bottom-up and integrated. Values of self-reliance, resourcefulness and healthy options became a common and shared advocacy for survival.

Teer/Tengaw: Intangible Cultural Heritage and COVID-19 Pandemic

The Mountain Province is one of the provinces comprising the Cordillera region which includes Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Payao and Abra. Cordilera traditional leaders put high priority to public welfare, emphasizing social impact of decisions and actions in local governance. According to Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr., ‘As indigenous peoples, we listen to bearers of indigenous wisdom, it has kept our people safe and strong since time immemorial’ (Caren Ringor, Municipal Tourism Officer (Bontoc), personal communication, March 2020).

On 30 March 2020, with the rampage for food relief due to the stringent protocols of COVID-19, Mayor Gabion Gangganga of Sadanga, Mt. Province declared on his Facebook account that his local government would not get relief food packs from the national welfare agency DSWD. Instead, he requested that this be given to more needy areas in the country.

Compulsory village confinement was invoked in the Mt. Province called teer, tengao sedey, far-e, or cabaya by different Cordillera ethnolinguistic groups. In the adjacent Ifugao province, it is called tungoh or tungao, while in Kalinga it is called ngilin. This is a rest day imposed on the community on the first day of the wake (Degawan, 2020).

Teer has many functionaries. It happens before and after a chono (Prill-Bret, 2018). Chono refers to the elaborate feasts of merit among Bontok in mountain provinces. It also gives farmers time to decide on work allocations among household members assess available resources and enforce physical rest from heavy labour which arrests physical exhaustion. It is also resorted to during critical environmental constraints particularly to contain the spread of sickness and pestilence. Finally, it serves as a means to gather the focused attention of the community on critical issues that affect the general welfare (Acabado, 2015; Prill-Bret, 2015)

In one area in the Mt. Province, teer was conducted with the offering of chicken with salted meat called changtey. After the ritual, elders put or hang plant cuttings of tiken on a tree, carabao skulls were festooned in front of houses or a bundle of grasses was tied loosely. This signifies no entry or no movement of locals in and out of the village (Diga Kay Gomez, Municipal Health Officer (Bontoc), personal communication, March 2020; Johanna Padaen, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Mgt Officer (Bontoc), personal communication, March 2020).

In Sagada town, the elders performed sedey on 21 March 2020, invoking Lumaweg to protect the town from COVID-19 and other diseases. In the capital city of Bontoc, revered elder Changar Fakat, performed a manengtey on 30 March, which involved divining omens from the internal organs of a chicken. Fires were kept burning for several days as protective charms against the virus.

The case study of intangible cultural heritage and COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the theme of transmission. The shared tradition of teer/tengaw (compulsory rest or compulsory lockdown) of the Cordillerans practiced this in myriad contexts, that is, in times of tribal war/conflict settlement, critical community meetings, pestilence and epidemics and compulsory ‘rest’. Because of this, the village was well equipped, ready and prepared on how to continue their daily activities when COVID-19 spread in the country.

Based on the documentation of teer/tengaw, exemplary indigenous values were manifested which were sources of pride. Throughout the ritual, there were compelling representations of simplicity, mindfulness, cooperation and the future-orientedness of the Bontok people.

Dungaw: Movable Heritage and COVID-19 Pandemic

Part of the government directive to impose community quarantine was the prohibition of mass gatherings defined as ‘planned or spontaneous event where the number of people attending could strain the planning and response resources of the community hosting the event’ (Presidential Communications Operations Office, 2020). In response, the Opus Dei (2020) stated:

We will abide by the government’s directive to suspend all large gatherings from March 15 to April 14. There will be no celebration of the Hoy mass with a large congregation within this period plus other religious activities during the Holy Week which usually attracts huge crowds of the faithful.

In Sto. Domingo Parish, the seat of the Dominican Province in the Philippines and the home of the revered Nuestra Senora de La Naval de Manila, the succeeding weeks saw gradual development on the implementation of online streaming for religious services made virtually accessible. One distinct practice was the ritual of placing the vicarial image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary at the door of the church which has been later known among friars and devotees as Pagdungaw ng La Naval.

The Pagdungaw ng La Naval or simply Dungaw is rather unique. Unlike the other liturgical celebrations and popular piety, Dungaw was not held in Sto. Domingo until the prior of community quarantine. Following the historical background of some devotions in the Philippines, we realize that these expressions of piety did not start as a collective expression for common belief but as a faith response to a particular event.

There had been a long tradition for the Marian images of Sto. Domingo made accessible to people. It was consistent with various sources (Aduarte, 1640; Ferrando & Fonseca, 1870) that it was the people who sought for this image to be enshrined in a conspicuous place for them to continually venerate it.

On 20 April 2020, Fr Roger C. Quirao OP, Prior of the Convent, asked the student–brothers to place the vicaria of Sto. Rosario near the door of the church. The intention was in order for people to venerate the Our Lady at the least from the front gate along Quezon Avenue. ‘It has been this way during the following days until it was made a daily religious ritual at 08:15 am’. Since as much as possible all religious activities in the church are made accessible through digital streaming, the prior had it broadcasted in real time via social media platforms. It was introduced to the people as Pandungaw ng Mahal na Ina, Santisimo Rosario La Naval de Manila [Appearance of the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the Rosary La Naval de Manila]. Its first online streaming (April 12) reached 175,997 people with a total of 17,735 reactions, comments and shares from them based on Facebook video metrics. The vicarial image stays until 08:00 pm, when the student–brothers move it back to the shrines narthex.

The sequence of Dungaw was as follows (Fray Mervin Lomague OP, brother in the Priory of Sto. Domingo (Quezon City), personal communication, March 2020):

The choir sings the Salve in front of the church. They accompany the people who are silently praying from the front gate.

The vicaria was out for public veneration until 08:00 pm. A prayer to Our Lady of the Rosary was inscribed on a placard in the front gate in order to help the people meditate as they gaze the image from afar.

At 08:00 pm the brothers gathered around the vicarial once more and serenade the Our Lady with the traditional Despedida de la Virgen. As in the morning, the antiphon again was recited and the Final Prayer was said by the presiding cleric. As a manner of dismissal, the presider imparted the Final Blessing. In silence, the porteros moved the image back to the church’s narthex and closed the doors.

The case study of movable heritage and COVID-19 pandemic delved on the theme of community. The Catholic devotion to the Our Lady of La Naval de Manila was abruptly stymied by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced lockdowns and the social distancing. Religious gatherings and mass congregations were completely banned which made people utilize the effective reach of social media. Other than social media, the Dominicans of Sto. Domingo Priory effort to allow the viewing of the religious image from afar, a social commitment to the community. The visual connection and physical attachment were continued and experienced in real time. The ceremony expressed values of community, particularly care and compassion, perseverance and hope.