Dumingag: A Sneak Peak into the Organic Town of Zamboanga del Sur

Aerial photo of Umaleng Organic Farm. Photo by Dada Mercado.

Dumingag is a small town in Zamboanga del Sur. It's the lone permaculture site representing the Mindanao region in our quest to document projects all over the country. And due to expensive airfare and a limited budget, we only have one full day to do our data gathering. Like all great adventures, we had our share of challenges. We missed our early morning flight to Ozamiz City so we had to find another flight just to push through with the trip. Thankfully, we found a late morning flight to Dipolog City  and arranged for a van to take us to Dumingag--still a two-hour drive from the airport. By the way, Seaver and Sherry arrived earlier because they arrived at the airport just in time for the Ozamiz flight.

Joan Pacalioga Abejuela and mother, Elgyn Pacalioga at Bukid ni Bogs. Photo by Dada Mercado. 

We arrived in Greenville (an organic-themed compound of the Department of Agriculture) late in the afternoon. Having lost valuable time due to the airport mishap, we proceeded to interviewing our host, Joan Pacalioga Abejuela, and a couple of school principals in one of the compound's many offices. They showed us a video of what Dumingag is all about (watch their One World Award 2012 video here) and discussed the town's strategy called the General People's Agenda (GPA). The idea of incorporating permaculture into the GPA is an on-going project with the Philippine Permaculture Association.

The visitor's lounge at Umaleng Organic Farm. Photo by Dada Mercado.

Joan toured us around town and showed us some of their projects such as the Organic Training Post (OTP) showcasing Dumingag Organics and other local products like Bukid ni Bogs (read his blog article here). 

On the second day, Joan and her husband took us up the mountain to see Bukid ni Bogs. Unfortunately, Bogs was not there but we did meet his mentor, Elgyn Pacalioga--Joan's mom and the permaculture designer behind Umaleng Organic Farm, the site we decided on studying for one full day.

Dried adlai to be used for making organic soaps. Photo by Dada Mercado.

Beautifully designed with proper permaculture zoning, mixed cropping, and amazing functional aesthetics, Umaleng is Girlyn's "laboratory" for experimenting with different designs. The farm has become the family's pet project and is also the site for the organic soap production of the Bukid ni Bogs brand. They teach guests how to make soaps for free!

We finished gathering data from the farm by late afternoon. Then we were told that we had to leave for Ozamiz City in the evening so we won't miss our early flight home the next day.

Our visit was very brief. But we enjoyed this magical place. Thanks again to our gracious hosts! Hope to be back soon!

The vlog episode for Dumingag will premier at 8 PM on YouTube and Facebook on February 19.