In 1998, I was so new in the coffee industry and did not know where to start connecting with farmers. I was only exposed to Silang, Cavite then, so I joined the Coffee Foundation of the Philippines on their trips with the agency most concerned about coffee, Dept. of Trade and Industry-International Coffee Organization Certifying Agency or DTI-ICOCA. We paid our way to find farms and meet farmers; with my business partner we traveled to Benguet and Bukidnon with this motley group of coffee advocates.
Almost 30 years later, today we find Bukidnon to be more accessible as you can drive from Davao or fly to Cagayan de Oro’s Laguindingan airport. The roads are good, long and winding, taking you to the famous Kitanglad and its neighbor Kalatungan. In between these two majestic mountains are coffee areas, one near Lake Napalit and one closer to Kitanglad.
Many years ago, Sumilao town had a processing area for exportable coffee. That has since stopped operations but Bukidnon still became a destination for coffee because of Monk’s Blend, a famed coffee brand popularized by the Benedictine monks in Malaybalay. The brand reached supermarkets and I saw they had a professional roasting machine, at least to make assorted beans taste better than what the market had then. Today, we have many micro roasters preparing coffee to your taste – medium or dark roast, and of different varieties.
Bukidnon has always remained special to me – as this was where I first met Father Colombano who asked me to stay for vespers, where you hear a pin drop as everyone kneels in silent prayer at the Monastery of the Transfiguration. On first Sundays, they have a community breakfast where you get to meet the priests and monks on their monthly socials with visitors from far and wide.
I got the chance to see their coffee facility many years back – a German-made Probat roaster when the coffee trade was not yet as exposed to better equipment. Think circa 2000s, which was a long time ago. This is why Monk’s Blend became such a revered brand – with a story and good coffee to boot.
Today, as road networks improved, we found ourselves visiting Bukidnon more frequently, sometimes as tourists, sometimes as trainers and most of the time as friends of many village elders and IP communities. We have also started a partnership with Xavier Science Foundation to plant coffee in the lands reachable only by foot and cared for by local cultural communities.
What is the secret to Bukidnon’s appeal as a tourist destination and as a place for relaxed community work and advocacy? The weather is wonderfully cool and balanced – with some rain in the afternoons but sunshiny mornings. The restaurants and hotels have kept pace with development of local tourism. We keep discovering new cafés and food joints, we like to shop at roadside stalls for fruits, corn and other native products. Traveling back to Davao, you can find a Michelin-featured restaurant called Pilgrim. Traveling to Misamis Oriental (about an hour’s drive) you can find Don Narciso Café. And traveling in and around Valencia and Malaybalay, there are many places to stay overnight and then continue on with your road trip the next day. Bukidnon is also famous for the Del Monte farm where steaks have a pineapple hint of flavor, they say.
In 2003, we found a school that needed help in the Miarayon area. Lately, I found out that the schoolchildren we once supported are now either in college or are taking their master and doctorate degrees already. That wonderful news was sent by Gina Alfonso of Cartwheel Foundation who we worked with 20 years ago in Miarayon, way before today’s coffee fame. The secret’s out – coffee from these parts tastes very good, especially if farmers are trained in post-harvest processing.
This is why a sustainability plan for Bukidnon or for each coffee-growing province is key. Sometimes a national program is just too far to reach so a localized plan works for these coffee origins that are far from each other.
Bukidnon is also known for dairy as they pride themselves in having livestock and good grass that cattle feed on. There also are organic farms in and around as we visited Down To Earth farms as well as discover new sources of adlai, the grain that diabetics prefer for its lower glycemic index. Many years back adlai was sold at just P6/kilo and sold as food for hogs. Not anymore. Health conscious diners and progressive chefs started using the grain in risotto, arroz caldo and now many provinces have started to grow adlai or Job’s tears. Farmers found a premium market for what was once hog feed.
Bukidnon is known as the food basket of Mindanao and was the largest contributor to the gross value added to agriculture forestry and fishery (AFF) in 2024. Its contributions to the AFF has been going up, surpassing that of 81 provinces and 33 highly urbanized cities, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Can you imagine what a rich province can contribute to sustainability of coffee, among other crops? It also does not experience as much weather changes like typhoons as it is a landlocked area.
You may want to explore what Bukidnon has to offer, other than coffee, pineapples and sugarcane. For me, I treasure all the memories and hope to make more trips for the sustainability of not just the coffee but every sector of agriculture.