New Zealand envoy backs Agusan Sur Manobo-Maori cultural ties

BUTUAN CITY – Claiming that New Zealand’s Maori and Manobo indigenous people in Agusan del Sur have some things in common, New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines David Pine vowed to strengthen ties of the two indigenous peoples’ group through cultural, educational, trade and arts exchange program.

The New Zealand ambassador was here in Butuan City recently to grace the completion of the Local Government Unit Management Training Project at the local hotel and convention center here.

The LGUMTP is a three-year joint project of the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) of Caraga Region which started in November 2004.

The local indigenous people sector particularly the Manobo settlers in hinterland areas in La Paz, Agusan del Sur which formed part of the local government unit were excluded in the project.

However, Pine assured the Manobo tribal leader of La Paz, Bae Merlin Coguit-Hernandez, heir of the legendary Manobo leader Datu Tagleong Coguit and her husband, Datu Bonanat that he will send a New Zealand emissary soon to map out plans and strategies for them to be included in the proposed program.

The indigenous Maori people in New Zealand are the largest non-European ethnic group, accounting for 14.6 percent of the population according to the 2006 census.

The Manobo tribesmen in Caraga Region particularly in the two Agusan provinces is the largest indigenous group in the region whose population comprised 30 percent of Caraga Region’s total population.

Manobo” is the localized form of “Manuvu,” which, (Spanish), means people.

The Manobo appears to be a remnant of the first Austronesian invasion from Taiwan, pre-dating people like the Ifugao of Luzon while ancestors of the Maori were a Polynesian people originating from Southeast Asia.

Some historians trace the early Polynesian settlers of New Zealand as migrating from today’s China, making the long voyage via Taiwan, through the South Pacific and on to Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Pine wanted possible exchange between the two indigenous peoples’ groups in terms of preservation of culture and arts, beliefs and traditions, promotion of indigenous skills such as wood carving, hand-weaving and other skills and the creation of education and livelihood assistance network.