Panlauy with AGMIHICU: Guarding the Forests of Impasug-ong

AGMIHICU members & visitors take group photo after hike

In celebration of World Rainforest Day, we honor the living traditions that continue to protect the Philippines’ remaining rainforests. Panlauy, the traditional forest monitoring practice of the Higaonon Indigenous Peoples in Northern Mindanao.

From May 14 to 19, 2025, the AGMIHICU Indigenous community (Agtulawon Mintapod Higaonon Cumadon), together with HAMOG youth, and support from NTFP-EP Philippines, conducted the Panlauy in the Mahagwa area of Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. The practice is a spiritual and ecological journey that allows the community to assess the health of their forests and biodiversity, detect signs of illegal activity, and reconnect with the spirits of the forests and their ancestral land.

The timing of this year’s Panlauy carried extra weight. It was conducted together with AGMIHICU’s 13th CADT Anniversary and Wild Foods Festival, symbolizing the community’s long-standing commitment to ancestral domain stewardship. The practice was held with elders, women, youth, and forest advocates and allies outside the community. They went on a forest walk and honored wild foods like native fruits, forest vegetables, and wild honey, manifestations of knowledge and sustainable living that had been safeguarded for generations.

55 participants, including 13 youth, were shown how traditional governance and youth leadership intersect. The active role of HAMOG youth reflected an intergenerational passing of traditional knowledge, culture, and respect for the land and forest. This is community-based forest monitoring and conservation in practice. It is community-led, deeply cultural, and shows that the Higaonon way of life is vibrant and alive.

NTFP-EP Philippines supported the community with logistical and facilitation support, ensuring that the activity remained grounded in tradition and is also guided by strategy. Through uplifting Indigenous leadership and cultural practices like Panlauy, we help safeguard the rainforests that we all rely on.

On this World Rainforest Day, we remember and honor the Indigenous Peoples and traditions like the Higaonon’s Panlauy. Our forests are not property to extract from, but they are life itself.