weaved LIVES

In the mountains of South Cotabato, the Tboli strive to keep their stories alive, one thread at a time.

- AUDREY CARPIO.

There must be 50 ways to eat tilapia. Any restaurant in Lake Sebu will list a plethora of options for serving the fish that is farmed in abundance in the lakes of Lake Sebu: chicharon, kinilaw, sinanglay, nilasing, nilagpang, paksiw, curry, and the weirdly blue-tinged tilapia ice cream.

The tilapia, despite it being identified with the attractions of Lake Sebu, is not endemic to the area. Introduced in the 1970s, the Nile tilapia kickstarted the fish culturation industry in the area, which now accounts for over 50 percent of municipal income. The majority of fish pen operators in Lake Sebu are non-Tboli. Last year, a phenomenon known as fish kill struck Lake Sebu, laying waste to more than 200 tons of fish. Some Tboli believe the “kmahong” is a curse for overcrowding and polluting the sacred lake, which was once so clear you could see all the way to the bottom.

For centuries, the Tboli people living in the Allah Valley in Cotabato were spared from Spanish colonization. In the early 1900s, when the Americans opened the valley to Christian settlers from other parts of the country, the Tboli moved up the slopes of the mountains. Waves of industrial migrants, from ranchers to loggers and miners, continued to displace them from their homelands. One Tboli group congregated around three mountain lakes: Lake Lahit, Lake Seloton, and Lake Sebu, the largest of the three and which their municipality is named after.

In 1961, American Passionist missionaries arrived at the then-remote and isolated Lake Sebu, establishing the Santa Cruz Mission and its schools. The mission intended to provide a Catholic education for the IP children, one that integrates rather than erases their culture and identity.