Strategies in the Utilization and Management of Resources among a Group of Mandaya’s in Davao Oriental

The study examined the changes, if any, in the strategies employed by a group of Mandaya’s in Calapagan, Lupon, and in Sitio Taganilao, Tamisan, Mati - both in Davao Oriental - in upland farming and in resource utilization and management years after their integration into the mainstream of Philippine society. It also aimed to find out if this group continued their ancestors' practice of using the areas' plants with curative effects or medicinal value in light of advances in the field of medicine. Findings suggest that, like other Philippine indigenous groups, this group of Mandaya’s has been affected by its contact with lowlanders. The depletion in the quantity of the products regularly churned out by the forests, the seas, and the rivers due to man's exploitation of the earth's natural resources has changed them from being self-reliant to dependent consumers of the goods produced by the market economy. Their age-old farming practice, though, survives to some degree; a change is evident in that they are now given the opportunity to participate in the protection and conservation of the forests through the integrated social forestry project. Plants identified as having curative or medicinal value are still widely used by the members of the group.