South Cotabato

Lake Sebu: Living with the T’boli

Posted on September 22, 2011

During my much-anticipated visit to Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, I had the opportunity to experience spending a night in an indigenous home. The T’boli are one of the numerous non-Islamic indigenous peoples – or lumads – in Mindanao. They once occupied a majority of the island, but due to the arrival of Christian migrants from Luzon and Visayas in the early 20th century, as well as sporadic ethno-political conflicts, they have been pushed to highland areas such as theRead More→

Getting Fishy in Gensan

Posted on September 19, 2011

Before world boxing champ Manny Pacquiao or Ms. Universe beauty Shamcey Supsup, the southernmost city of General Santos in South Cotabato – “GenSan” for short –has long been known for another world-class export – tuna! Since the international market discovered the abundance of tuna off its coast in the early 1970s, GenSan has been dubbed the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines”. Fishport laborers hauling yellow-fin tuna The best place to appreciate the tuna industry is at the Fishport Complex inRead More→