Buid
Missionary to the Buid Honored Again
Father Ewald Dinter, a German priest who has worked with the Mangyan people since the mid-1980s, has received another award for his services. Two years ago, Fr. Dinter was recognized for his contributions to the education of the Buid and the other Mangyan societies on Mindoro Island in the Philippines. The 72 year old priest […]
Mining Project Derailed in the Philippines
A major nickel mining project proposed for the mountains of central Mindoro Island was suspended last Friday by the Environmental Secretary of the Philippines due to pressures from protesters. The huge mining operation, projected to cover 11,216.6 hectares, would have a direct impact on the traditional territories of a couple Mangyan societies on Mindoro, the […]
German Priest Helps Establish Mangyan Schools
Ewald Hauck Dinter, a 70-year old German priest, has been living for 22 years among the Mangyan people of Mindoro Island, learning their customs and even their spoken Buid language. During that time he has gained the trust of the people and become an advocate for opening up educational opportunities for them. A recent Philippine […]
A Buid School Makes Significant Progress
Most peaceful peoples focus on raising their children to adopt their nonviolence, much as more violent societies emphasize the importance of teaching aggressiveness and the inevitability of warfare. Some of the small-scale, peaceful groups have problems, however, melding their traditional socialization strategies, which teach their youth to uphold proper moral and social values, with the […]
New Film Upsets the Buid
A Buid support group claimed last week that a prominent independent film was recently shot on their lands without their express approval. The issue is controversial because the movie is a top contender in a major, upcoming, Filipino film festival. The film, called “Brutus,” was directed by Tara Illenberger and filmed in Oriental Mindoro. It […]
Faces of the Buid Added to Flickr
The first six photos on the flickr slideshow about the Buid are really charming. In the foreground of the first picture, a man is squatting on the floor of a hut chopping vegetables. Across from him, a young woman holds a small child on her lap, while other people are shown in the background. The […]
Zapotec and Buid Featured in Public Events
People in Berkeley, California, and the Visayas Islands in the Philippines will have unique opportunities to learn about a couple of peaceful societies in coming weeks. Laura Nader, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, will be showing some recent documentary film footage of the Zapotec people at a presentation this coming Monday […]
Mangyan Societies Threatened by Strip Mining
Last week the Guardian published the details of a proposed strip mining operation, which is planned for the highlands of Mindoro Island, where several Mangyan societies, including the Buid, subsist. The paper indicates that a vast strip mine will clear vegetation and top soil from 37.5 square miles and force the relocation of at least […]
Buid Featured in American Filipino Magazine
The Asian Journal has just published a story about the culture of the Mangyan people, a generic term for the Buid and seven other Mindoro Island societies. The article in the magazine, a weekly published for the Western U.S. Filipino community, emphasizes the incredible human diversity of the Philippines. It cites the fact that of […]
Buid Elder Remembered
Laki Iwan, a beloved Buid elder, was about 90 when he slipped on a patch of mud in his village several months ago, fell, hit his head, and died. His body was discovered several hours after the accident. The man was suffused with a spirit of far-sighted generosity, to judge by an article last week […]
