The Mansaka People, Their Belief-System on Nature, And Their Environmental Participation in Davao De Oro, Philippines
Abstract
The Mansaka people originally inhabit the mountains of Davao de Oro, Philippines. They are the people who believed in the undisturbed natural process happening in the universe and in an environment rich in natural process. The study investigates on the Mansaka’s belief-system about nature and how this belief-system defines their participation on the conservation and the loss of their environment. The study disclosed the following findings: The Mansakas’ belief-system says that they are one with nature, God and spiritual forces, they even do rituals as an expression of respect to nature. The environmental participation of the Mansakas was revealed that they performed the positive programs of actions commonly; Reforestation, Tree Planting, and Waste Disposal Management while their negative participation is commonly manifested in illegal logging and small-scale mining. The Mansakas belief-system is being one with nature, God and spiritual forces. Their belief-system is made relevant with Spinoza’s Pantheism that they belong to the whole reality. The second is the aid on their environmental participation which revealed through Nietzsche’s Dual Forces of Man that there are Mansakas who participated the gradual loss of their environment while others tried their best to conserve their environment and remain interconnected with every being in nature.
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