See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271919756

Spatio-temporal migration patterns to and from an upland village of

Mindanao, Philippines

Article  in  Population and Environment · December 2014

DOI: 10.1007/s11111-014-0213-4

CITATIONS

2

READS

180

6 authors, including:

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Migration and urban integration in Burkina Faso View project

MULTIMODE View project

François Mialhe

Université Lumiere Lyon 2

19 PUBLICATIONS   94 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

N. Dendoncker

University of Namur

79 PUBLICATIONS   1,317 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Lola Richelle

University of Namur

2 PUBLICATIONS   2 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Sabine Henry

University of Namur

28 PUBLICATIONS   819 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by François Mialhe on 22 March 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

ORI GIN AL PA PER

Spatio-temporal migration patternsto and from an upland village of Mindanao, Philippines

F. Mialhe • P. Walpole • E. Bruno • N. Dendoncker •

L. Richelle • S. Henry

� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Abstract Movement of groups of people is closely linked to environmental, agri-

cultural and cultural change. Gaining an understanding of these changes in a local

context is a vital prelude to the construction of a viable predictive model. We carried

out a study in the Philippines to better understand the association between migration

and these types of changes at a village scale and to build a picture of how the asso-

ciations changed in time and space. The study area was located in the uplands of

Mindanao. Migration to the village began in the late 1970s. As of 2010, the population

is made up of indigenous people (*57 %), people who migrated from elsewhere in the

Philippines (*29 %), and descendants of indigenous/non indigenous parents

(*14 %). Face-to-face interviews in the village and in the places of origin/destination

were used to collect qualitative information on the migrations made by the current and

past village inhabitants. The main results relate to the reasons for migration, the socio-

environmental processes that induced the decision to move and the description and

explanation of more recent moves. The local findings are discussed in the context of

existing published models of migration in frontier areas.

Keywords Frontier migration � Mindanao � Bohol � Uplands � Indigenous peoples

F. Mialhe � N. Dendoncker � L. Richelle � S. Henry

Department of Geography, University of Namur, 61 rue de Bruxelles, Namur, Belgium

F. Mialhe (&)

Department of Geography, University of Lyon 2 Lumiere, UMR 5600 EVS, Lyon, France

e-mail: Francois.Mialhe@univ-lyon2.fr

P. Walpole � E. Bruno

Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC), Ateneo de Manila University, Manila

Observatory Bldg., Quezon City, Philippines

123

Popul Environ

DOI 10.1007/s11111-014-0213-4

Introduction

Migration toward forest frontier areas is of substantial interest because of associated

land use changes and, in particular, impacts on forest cover. Prior research on

frontier migration has examined determinants, implications and variations across

settings (Barbieri et al. 2006, 2009; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). The research

presented here extends this existing knowledge with an analysis of the patterns and

causes of migration in a specific space–time context, i.e., a village (Bendum) in the

uplands of Mindanao (Philippines) after World War II and by contrasting the results

with current population-environment theories and models. The patterns and causal

connections were inferred from information provided by interview respondents

when explaining their migration to and from the village since its establishment in

the 1970s, with a focus on the social, cultural, environmental and political processes

shaping migration. Comparisons between different ethnic (i.e., indigenous or

immigrant) and age groups provided useful insight into the importance of culture

and context with migration decision-making in this little-studied region.

Background

A number of studies have found frontier migrants to be mostly internal movers

(VanWey et al. 2012), and research has found that migrant flows are shaped by the

frontier’s age, the period of settlement (or contextual factors) and access to natural

resources (Amacher et al. 1998; Barbieri et al. 2009; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013;

Carr et al. 2006). In many rural regions across the globe, the opening of forest by

logging or oil companies has paved the way for settlement and agriculture by

making isolated patches of old growth forest more easily accessible (Barbieri et al.

2006). However, decline in crop yields due to soil depletion and decline in land

opportunities due to farm extension, both typical of aging frontiers, have generated

new migratory flows—either toward other forest edges or back to the cities (Barbieri

et al. 2006; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). Date of settlement also shapes frontier

migration patterns since contextual factors may trigger, amplify or attenuate flows.

These factors include migration and environmental policies, social instability,

economic inequalities, unequal land distribution, or the availability (or lack) of

government services and infrastructures. These affect the cost of migration, access

to information, migration networks (constitution and functions) and access to land

(Barbieri et al. 2009). Poverty, for example, has driven migrants from the

Ecuadorian sierras to the Amazonian forest frontier (Barbieri et al. 2006).

Frontier migrants have many motivations, including the prospect of land

ownership, although the process of ownership in frontiers is often lengthy and

uncertain (Southgate 1990; Amacher et al. 1998; VanWey et al. 2012). Agricultural

labor-saving technology, e.g., use of herbicides or hand-tractors, has also fostered

migration toward frontiers on some occasions (as discussed for Sulawesi by Ruf

2001). In addition, forest decline through migration has also been linked to

proximate causes such as urbanization’s impact on increasing preference for meat

diets (DeFries et al. 2006; Lopez-Carr and Burgdorfer 2013).

Popul Environ

123

Another proximate cause of frontier migration is the creation of protected areas

(e.g., national parks, sanctuaries) or the devolution of management to locals through

community-based management arrangements. Such changing natural resource

management structures contribute to changes in migration patterns (Barbieri et al.

2006; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). As an example, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, frontier

‘closure’ reduced in-migration and favored the intensification of agriculture because

expansion into new frontier areas was no longer possible (Barbieri et al. 2006).

On the implications of frontier migration, in the absence of soil conservation, soil

degradation is often observed (e.g., loss of microbial biomass, organic carbon and

nitrogen), which likely leads to a reduction in land productivity (Islam and Weil

2000). The subsequent decline in production and—as a consequence—rent can

trigger social impacts such as the out-migration of first- or second-generation

settlers. Challenges also often arise when indigenous peoples already live in the area

to be colonized (Rindfuss et al. 2007), inducing a risk of acculturation and/or

cultural conflicts. As an example, socio-technical changes borne by migrants can be

environmentally detrimental since the indigenous farming practices often have

relatively lower forest cover impacts (Lu et al. 2010).

Frontier migration can also be supported or encouraged by government

(Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013; Pichon 1997). In Ivory Coast, for example, the first

post-independence government encouraged migration toward forest to plant cocoa

with the motto ‘The land belongs to those who develop it.’ Substantial clearing of

primary forest was consequently recorded (Ruf 2001). Of course, governments may

support frontier migration for other reasons including decreasing land pressure in

densely populated areas (Wernstedt and Simkins 1965), shifting religious balance

(Tigno 2006), or affirming sovereignty (VanWey et al. 2012).

Several explanatory models of frontier migration have been proposed such as the

‘property lifecycle model’ in which farm failures are related to the length of

occupation of a parcel of land and predict a subsequent out-migration of first- or

second-generation migrants (Aldrich et al. 2012; Barbieri et al. 2009; Caviglia-

Harris et al. 2013). A second is the ‘Brazilian model’ which, simply stated, ‘begins

with clearing by small farmers, followed by soil depletion and plot abandonment (or

sale) to large cattle ranchers’ (Barbieri et al. 2006; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013).

Other published models represent adaptations of existing frameworks to the frontier

context such as the ‘Chayanov household lifecycle model’ (Barbieri et al. 2009;

Pichon 1997), the ‘new economics of labor migration’ (Stark and Bloom 1985), or

the multiphasic modified model (Aldrich et al. 2012; Bilsborrow and Ogendo 1992;

Carr et al. 2009).

A limitation of current frontier migration models is that most are based on social-

environmental patterns within the Amazon basin (Carr 2004; De Sherbinin et al.

2008). Moreover, research has not often examined migration from a systemic

perspective, which considers the nested scales of space and time at which the push

and pull factors of migration operate. By assessing the population of a migration

frontier area in Southeast Asia using a migration systems perspective, this paper

begins to fill these gaps. We examine the association between migration in the rural

Philippines and environmental, agrarian and cultural changes based on data

collected from places of both departure and arrival over the 1970–2010 period.

Popul Environ

123

Study area

General background

At the end of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines (i.e., 1898), population

density on the island of Mindanao (*100,000 km2) was about 5 inhabitants per sq.

km (Wernstedt and Simkins 1965). It reached 221 per sq. km in 2010 (National

Statistics Office 2010) and in-migration has been instrumental to that population

growth. Typically, migrants were jobless and landless because of the limitations of

agrarian reforms and the economic policies that favored capital and energy-

intensive activities over labor and agriculture intensification (Amacher et al. 1998).

The national government promoted migration from densely populated areas–some

of which were centers of an anti-government insurgency–toward less populated

areas such as Mindanao.

Government-led migration policies in Mindanao failed in relative terms because

voluntary migrants outnumbered program-led migrants (Wernstedt and Simkins

1965; Rola and Coxhead 2002). Many settled in the uplands due to a lack of job/

land opportunities in the lowlands in addition to easier land tenure, newly logged

lands, and also the lack of enforcement of forest protection, which facilitated illegal

homesteading (Amacher et al. 1998). Between 1948 and 1988, the upland

population of the Northern Mindanao region increased from 380,000 to 1,675,000

(Cruz et al. 1988).

Migrants first undertook destructive shifting cultivation with short fallow periods,

but eventually moved to permanent agriculture. Some also learned from, and

adapted to, the local context by collecting forest products (rattan, timber, birds,

orchids, resin from the almaciga tree: Agathis philippinensis) as a secondary source

of income (Lacuna-Richman 2006; Siebert 1984).

Social ties fueled additional migration as initial migrants were joined by relatives

and friends (Cruz et al. 1988; Lacuna-Richman 2006). In all, deforestation,

essentially due to logging after World War II (Lasco et al. 2001), and regional

population growth due to migration impacted indigenous cultures and peoples,

particularly through processes of detribalization and marginalization (Eder 1990).

Bendum area

This study area is located in the Upper Pulangi watershed, Bukidnon Province,

Mindanao (Philippines) (Fig. 1). Since 1984, the study village, Bendum, is a sitio1

of barangay Busdi (Malaybalay City). Within the Koppen climate classification

(Peel et al. 2007), the climate is considered tropical rain forest—‘Af’ type—with a

rainfall of approximately 2,510 mm annually (Malaybalay City weather station)

(Walpole 2002).

1 The Philippines is divided into, from the highest division to the lowest: ‘regions’, ‘provinces’,

‘municipalities’, ‘barangays’. Sitios and puroks are communities that are not recognized as a Local

Government Unit (LGU).

Popul Environ

123

The Bendum area can be roughly divided into three distinct topographic zones: a

cliff-like portion with slope over 50 % (550 m above sea level—masl—to

740 masl), a rolling to hilly area with slope between 18 and 35 % (±740 masl)

and the western slope of the Pantaron mountain range which peaks at 1,450 masl

(Fig. 2). The first zone is partially forested and partially dedicated to farming. The

second is the main farming and settlement area, while tropical moist forest and

mossy forests cover the Pantaron mountain slopes. Although logging reached

Bendum in the 1970s (Walpole 2002), an area around Bendum of almost 3,000 ha

has remained forested since the 1989 national logging ban (Lawrence 1995).

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of Bendum can be

broadly classified into 3 groups: (1) indigenous populations (referred to locally as

‘lumad’), (2) migrant populations (referred to as ‘dumagat’ (‘coming from the sea’)

and (3) descendants of lumad/dumagat parents.

Before permanent settlement, Bendum was an area where indigenous people

temporarily settled to engage in hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation with long

fallow periods. This semi-nomadic lifestyle was characterized by frequent, circular

moves, and mobility was inseparable from identity (McDowell and de Haan 1997).

Today, indigenous people still maintain a distinct way of life and identity, a

combination of distinct language, religion, livelihood sources and practices, arts,

music among other cultural behaviors and traits. Mainstream Philippine society, on

the other hand, has been highly influenced by Arab missionaries, as well as Spanish

and American colonization.

Lumad is a collective term referring to the indigenous peoples of Mindanao that

have not adopted Islam. Originally, some lumads were living nearby the northern

coast of Mindanao, but progressively they have moved inland because of wars and

125°0'0"E120°0'0"E

15°0'0"N

10°0'0"N

5°0'0"N

0 4 82 Kilometers0 25 5012,5 Kilometers

Tagbilaran

Batuan

Talibon

Baclayon

Cagayan de Oro

Malaybalay

Maramag

Butuan

Philippines

Luzon island

Visayas

Mindanao

Valencia

Pangantokan

Bendum

BOHOL

Bohol Sea

Cagayan de Oro

Bulonay

Busdi

Kulaman St Peter

Caburacanan

Mapolo

Bendum

Bohol sea

Pulangi River

Upper Pulangi watershed

Cities/townsElevation (meters)

2000

250

1250

NN

Fig. 1 Study area (source of shaded relief: SRTM)

Popul Environ

123

the increasing influence of colonizers (e.g., Spaniards, Americans, Japanese)

(APCEC 2009). Dumagat, from the root word ‘dagat’ which means the sea, is a

collective term used by indigenous peoples in Northern Mindanao referring to the

lowland migrant settlers. Both dumagats and lumads share the trait of being pre-

hispanic and belong to Austronesian groups whose prehistoric migration patterns in

island Southeast Asia are still hotly debated (Tabbada et al. 2010). A local census

from 2010 tallied 59 households in the village with 330 individuals (Aclub 2010).

Of these, 57 % classified themselves as lumad, 29 % as dumagat and 14 % as

descendants of lumad/dumagat parents.

Economically, the most important activity in the region is farming (farmers and

farm laborers) with systems characterized by either shifting cultivation with short

fallow periods or permanent agriculture. Cultivated plants include corn, rubber,

coffee, abaca (Musa textilis) and root crops (sweet potato, cassava, ginger and taro).

Other significant economic activities include produce sales, abaca weaving,

teaching and transportation (goods and persons) with motorcycles.

Also important, Bendum is located within an area of conflict between the regular

Philippine Army (AFP) and the rebels of the New People Army (NPA). The NPA is

the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) created in 1969.

The conflict has provoked occasional intrusions of both groups into the village and

the NPA regularly attempts to recruit village youth. Several violent incidents have

occurred within close proximity to the village since the 1990s.

Bohol area

The second study area is located in Bohol Island, which belongs to the Visayan

island group of the Philippine archipelago (Fig. 1). Bohol Island is *4,800 km2

570 m

730 m

D

C

B

A

N

1 kilometer

Main farmland

Tropical moist forest

D

A

BC Scattered farms on hilly/steep land

Riceland

Bendum

Elevation (m)

Fig. 2 3D view of Bendum and its surroundings (source: GoogleEarth)

Popul Environ

123

with a population of *1.2 million in 2007 (NSO 2013). A high rate of out-

migration has occurred in Bohol for several decades. By 1960, 16.6 % of island

residents in 1950 had migrated elsewhere in the Philippines (Adem 1982). Out-

migration was somewhat counter-balanced by return migration in the 1970s, when

migrants came back from Mindanao due to conflicts between the army and Muslim

rebels (Acejo et al. 2004). Yet in recent times, high levels of out-migration have

again occurred due to several factors including the unequal distribution of land,

agronomic constraints due to soil quality, the limited size and growth potential of

the provincial capital and warfare between the army and leftist rebels (Adem 1982;

Urich 2003; Acejo et al. 2004).

We conducted research in the three primary origin municipalities for migrants in

Bendum. Two of these (Bilar and Batuan) are located in the hinterland, and the third

(Talibon) is in the coastal area. Today, livelihoods in the region are predominantly

natural resource based including agriculture in Bilar and Batuan and fishing in

Talibon. Hilly and mountainous areas, i.e., with slope angles in excess of 20�, cover

*50 % of the Batuan and *30 % of the Bilar municipalities. Together with the

development of protected areas (Rajah Sikatuna National Park, Loboc Watershed,

Chocolate Hills Monument Park), this drastically restricts the potential of

agricultural expansion.

Method

Fieldwork

For more than a decade, a group of researchers including some of the current

authors (E. Bruno and P. Walpole) have been carrying out ethnographic and

participatory studies on the culture, ecology, genealogy and history of Bendum.

Two additional field trips focused on the study of migration dynamics to and from

Bendum: the first from December 2011 to January 2012 in Mindanao and the second

from August to December 2012 in Bohol. These data constitute this manuscript’s

primary source.

Data collection and analysis

Life histories were gathered through in-depth face-to-face interviews. This enabled

the collection of longitudinal information on current and former Bendum residents

(Table 1). Former Bendum residents were met in their new living quarters either in

Bohol or in the surrounding villages. During interviews, a schematic timeline

representing a person’s lifetime was used to aid the respondent in recalling events

and the reasons behind transitions. Household sampling in Bendum was based on a

non-probability method with the assistance of local key informants. We aimed for

variation by original place of residence, cultural group, family and age. In total,

almost two-thirds of Bendum households were interviewed, while more than thirty

interviews were conducted with former residents (hereafter referred to as ‘out-

Popul Environ

123

migrants’). Interviews were conducted in either of the local languages—Visayan or

Binukid—with the help of local research assistants.

By engaging this qualitative method, we aimed to collect novel information about

the rationale behind migration, expanding what is already well covered in

quantitative-based research. Reasons for migration were qualified as ‘push’ factors

when referring to the place of origin, or ‘pull’ factors when referring to destination

(Tables 2, 3).

A ‘typology of moves’ was also established by combining several criteria

including primary migration reasons, migration characteristics in space–time, and as

related to lifecycle stage, and personal/household socioeconomic profiles.

A local definition of internal migration

The barangays in the Upper Pulangi watershed are large (e.g., *60 km2 for Busdi)

and include several (agro-) ecosystems ranging from agricultural lowlands to

forested highlands. As such, relocation within a barangay can involve a substantial

livelihood change as well as important shifts in various qualities of land assets

(among other aspects) due to different geographical and environmental features

(e.g., soil, slope, accessibility, forest). As a result, although much migration research

defines internal migration as crossing a sub-national administrative boundary, we

define a migration as a move from one settlement to another in the frontier area—

regardless of administrative crossing.

Another important distinction required separate consideration of the nature of

moves made by lumad and dumagat individuals. For lumads, relocation was

typically motivated by livelihood maintenance—we consider these ‘moves.’ For

dumagats, however, relocation was generally associated with a relatively radical

shift in livelihood—we consider these ‘migrations.’

Results

The results are presented in successive stages. First, a quantitative geographical

assessment of population flows is used to define migratory patterns. Then, two

separate typologies of moves and migrations for lumads and dumagats are

Table 1 List of variables collected during interviews

Variable Details

Geographical Place of origin and place of destination of the lifetime’s moves

Cultural group Lumads, dumagats, lumad/dumagat offspring

Livelihood Portfolio of activities

Tenure, land size, crops (for farmers)

Household characteristics Size, composition, age, gender, cultural group

Reasons to migrate Left open

Characteristics of migration Date, number of people involved in the migration

Popul Environ

123

Table 2 Reasons of the moves made by lumad households to/from Bendum

Categories of reasons Reasons (specific location, push/pull)

Move in

Sociocultural Chaotic environment because of the presence of logging and migrants (push)a

Guarding/protecting ritual site from logging (pull)

Desire of the elders to see the lumads settle in Bendum (pull)

Join a relative (pull)

Environmental Chaotic environment because of the presence of logging and migrants (push)a

Environmental quality of Bendum, i.e., the thick forest (pull)

Conflicts Conflicts with some community members about a crime (push)

Family conflicts (push)

Farming Low production of corn and coffee (push)

Small farm (push)

Willingness to end up the traditional shifting cultivation (push)

Good place to farm, in particular coffee (pull)

Close to market (pull)

Availability of land (pull)

Distribution of land by the captain barangayb (pull)

To plant upland rice on newly open lands (pull)

Difficulty to access the farms due to the high flow of the river

Public services Presence of the school (pull)

Household lifecycle Join the wife (pull)

Return move

Farming Because the farmland is in Bendum (pull)

Cultural Because of rumors about the reasons of the move

Move out

Conflicts Fear of NPA because involved in CAFGUc (push)

Move after a killing and fear of reprisals (push)

Intra-familial conflict (push)

Livelihood To work with logging companies (pull)

To work (in urban area) (pull)

Because of lack of daily work (push)

To work in a plantation with regular wages (pull)

To work in a petrol station (pull)

Household lifecycle Move to join the family of husband (pull)

Farming Low yields (push)

Lack of finances to afford for fertilizer (push)

a Because of the description given by the respondent, this reason can be considered as environmental or

socioculturalb Captain barangays are the elected political chief of the barangay administrative unit, which is the

smallest unit in the Philippines administrationc NPA for New People Army, the armed branch of the Communist Party of Philippines and CAFGU for

Civilian Armed Forced Geographical Unit, an irregular auxiliary force of the Armed Forced of the

Philippines (AFP)

Popul Environ

123

Table 3 Reasons of the moves made by the dumagat households to/from Bendum

Categories of given

reasons

Reasons (specific location, push/pull)

Move in

Farming Available land to buy (pull)

Land given by a relative (pull)

Good land/soil for coffee and corn (pull)

Cheap land available (pull)

Offer to work on the farm of relative/friend (pull)

Bad/rocky soil (Bohol, Bukidnon) (push)

Small farm (Bohol, Bukidnon) (push)

Rolling land (Bukidnon) (push)

No land to till (Bohol) push)

Shareholder status (Bohol, Bukidnon) (push)

Lack of rains (Bukidnon) (push)

To have land to give in inheritance (pull)

Household lifecycle To join the husband/wife or the son (pull)

Because a relative lives there (pull)

Livelihoods Harsh situation because of the difficulty to sell products (Bohol) (push)

Conflict Conflict with land owner, relative (cousin, stepmother) (Bohol) (push)

Environment Cool and relax place (pull)

Public services Because of the presence of the school

Return move

Livelihood High price of life (push)

Presence of relative (pull)

Move out

Geographical context Far from the markets (push)

Rural context (push)

Cold climate (push)

Farming Discouraged by the reduce growth of corn (push)

Discouraged by the difficulty to haul products from remote and steep farms

(push)

Destruction of crops by wild pigs (push)

Discouraged by the transportation time/cost of the production to the market

places (push)

No land to buy (push)

Not able to afford the fertilizers (push)

Public services Because the school was not accredited by Department of Education (push)

Because it was long/dangerous to go to High School (push)

To school in Bohol (pull)

Household lifecycle Because of a separation (push)

To join other child (pull)

Popul Environ

123

elaborated and interpreted. The processes behind moves and migrations are

subsequently presented for three geographical units (Pulangi, Bohol and Bendum).

We conclude with the results section, which emphasizes determinants of both moves

and migrations from both individual and household perspectives.

Move and migration patterns

Figure 3 provides an overview of the periods during which lumad and dumagat

respondents’ households arrived in Bendum. Lumads arrived first in the late-1970s

and dumagats in the mid-1980s. Lumad households tend to be larger; dumagats tend

to migrate as individuals or young couples with no or few children. The total

number of arrivals decreased after a peak reached in 1980–1984 and 1990–1994,

respectively, for lumads and dumagats.

Figure 4 indicates the origin barangays of lumad respondents before their arrival

in Bendum. All locations are situated within the Upper Pulangi watershed, and most

are less than 10 km from Bendum. Many households came from places today

located in the Busdi barangay, to the west, because households of Busdi commonly

farmed some plots located in Bendum area. Moving to Bendum was then a rational

option.

The second most frequent direction of moves was from the south, ‘upstream,’

approximately following the direction of logging operations. Lumad individuals

Table 3 continued

Categories of given reasons Reasons (specific location, push/pull)

Livelihood Because the main activity is outside Bendum (pull)

To work in services sector in urban areas (pull)

Hardship conditions of living (push)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

<1980 1980-1984 1985-1989 1990-1994 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009

Nu

mb

er o

f h

ou

seh

old

s

Years

dumagat

lumad

Fig. 3 Number of household who move to Bendum

Popul Environ

123

who moved north did so with the aim of seeking new land for maintaining

traditions. Some other households also came from more distant northern settlements

located in Agusan del Norte where traditions were also strongly held. This

provenance is not a surprise since a genealogical survey conducted in 1995 and

2007 by some of the current authors (Bruno E., Walpole P.) revealed numerous

Fig. 4 Former places of living of lumad households

Popul Environ

123

cases of filiation between individuals of different communities due to common

ancestors.

With regard to dumagats, Fig. 5 exhibits their origins prior to arrival in Bendum.

The origins are located either within the Pulangi river’s watershed or in Bohol.

Interviews revealed that many migrants reached Bendum directly from their

hometowns. Those that arrived from within the watershed came from a limited

number of places, indicating strong locational preferences potentially related to the

location of logging camps and perhaps environmental amenities (e.g., lowlands and

the possibility of irrigation). As an example, the town of St. Peter, situated at a

crossroads, was initially a logging camp established near a lumad community. St.

Peter was the primary origin of dumagats migrants in Bendum between 1985 and

1994.

D

E

125°0'0"E120°0'0"E

15°0'0"N

10°0'0"N

0 5 102,5 Kilometers

0 20 4010Kilometers

0 10 205Kilometers

0 30 6015Kilometers

1:7.000.000

Visayas

Luzon

Mindanao

Sulu sea

0 25 5012,5Kilometers

C

B

C

B

D

BendumBusdi

KulamanSt Peter

Zamboangita

Silae

Lantapan

Quezon

Maramag

Batuan

Baclayon

Cagayan de Oro

Tagaytay

E

A

E

D

A

C

Before 1980

1980-1984

1985-1989

1990-1994

1995-1999

2000-2005

After 2005

Time periods

Number of Household

1 2 3-5 5+

Fig. 5 Former places of living of dumagat households

Popul Environ

123

We were also interested in generating a typology of migration and did so as

representing the most common lifetime migration patterns of dumagats (Fig. 6).

Due to incomplete information, we did not attempt to elaborate lifetime patterns of

lumad moves. We aggregated dumagat residential locations into the following

categories: rural Visayas (including Bohol), urban areas (including Manila, Cebu

City, Cagayan de Oro and Malaybalay City), rural Mindanao, and Bendum.

Each pattern comprised movements to or from these categorized places, with

Bendum as the final destination. The sub-types of type-1 and type-2 primary

patterns indicate whether or not households were involved in an earlier move to an

urban area, or to rural Mindanao, before coming back to their hometowns.

Urban moves, toward Manila or Davao City, principally involved younger

dumagats migrating for industry work (e.g., agro-industry) or as short-term house-

helpers. Migration toward rural Mindanao was typically by young men to work as

farm or ranch laborers, often on land of relatives or acquaintances. From there, they

migrated toward more remote upland areas seeking land to work for themselves or

to expand their own landholdings. In that case, migration was thus instrumental in,

and not concurrent with, the strategy of land extension.

A substantial number of return migrations to Bohol reflect strong, long-lasting

connections with origins. Even so, reasons for these permanent or temporary returns

were varied and included labor opportunities on origin-based family farms, labor

contracts ended elsewhere, conflicts in Mindanao, strong family connections or to

settle with a new spouse.

A typology of moves to and from Bendum

For lumads, extended families motivated most movement, which explains why

lumads outnumbered dumagats for much of the study period (Table 4). A wider

variety of motivations characterized migration by dumagats, with migration types

reflecting household characteristics. Farm labor migration was common among

younger individuals both single or recently married. Households at an older life

Fig. 6 Most common patterns of moves of dumagat households

Popul Environ

123

cycle stage were more likely to migrate to farm their own lands (Table 5). While

many forms of dumagat migration occurred at the same time, farm labor, farming

and post-frontier moves were most common, followed by family reunification.

Processes leading to migration

Within the Upper Pulangi watershed

In the Pulangi watershed, land classification surveys conducted by the government

which aimed to distinguish Alienable & Disposable (hereafter A&D) land from

public, state-owned, timberland began in the 1950s. Only the flatland located on the

right bank of the Pulangi was classified as A&D, and any land not classified as A&D

during this period cannot today be privately owned. To hold a land title in A&D,

farmers were required to follow a costly procedure dealing with several government

agencies. Therefore, only a portion of farmers managed to acquire land titles by

selling a portion of their farmland. Classification as A&D increased the value of

Table 4 Typology of moves made by lumad households

Type Characteristics

Move in

Livelihood moves The most common moves realized by families from the neighboring villages

from the late 1970 and during the 1980s. Most of the reasons are related to

farming (in both places of origin and destination), but include environmental

and cultural (presence of tribal chieftain) considerations

Cultural moves Moves made from the neighboring villages to protect ritual site from the threat

of logging companies in the late 1970s. This induced the incoming of a Datu

(tribal chieftain) whom presence has been a strong attractor for further

arrivals

Lifecycle moves Traditional wedding induce the move of the newly married person in the

household of the spouse

Conflict moves Moves followed land ownership conflicts, crime and familial dispute. They

occurred at any time

Lifestyle and economic

moves

It concerns the households living in remote and forested areas. Households

evoked the desire to send children to school, to be closer of the market, and to

benefit from the coffee production in the early 1980s

Education moves Moves of young from neighboring towns to enroll in the elementary school

began in the 2000s

Move out

Conflict moves Moves followed conflicts and crime

Farming and livelihood

moves

Problems experienced in farming (low yields, absence of daily work for the

landless farmers, high cost of inputs) combined with the dual appeal of

agricultural daily work outside the community (for ‘instant cash’) and non-

farming jobs induced the out-migration, especially of youth and young

couples, from the late 1990s in the neighboring towns, in urban areas

(Mindanao) and also in Bohol. Temporary moves of youth to work in the

poultries and piggeries that are flourishing around Malaybalay also recently

developed

Popul Environ

123

land leading to some land being illegally seized from its proprietors. As a

consequence and under pressure from local political leaders and some dumagat

residents, some lumads became either landless or experienced a reduction of their

farmland which resulted in them moving to more remote and upland areas. Indeed,

enclosure, dispossession and exclusion of land (as has occurred in other places,

Elmhirst 2012) played a significant role in the early movements.

Soil acidification represented another major reason to move, with the acidificat-

ion due to permanent agriculture or shifting cultivation with short fallow. In the

state-owned timber forest, farmers were encouraged to secure a tax declaration for

their farms to gain a degree of security over the use of land. Legislation did not

Table 5 Typology of moves made by dumagat households

Type Characteristics

Move in

Farm labor migration Youth single or married male came to work several months or years as farm

laborers to work in the coffee farms owned by relatives or neighbors. They

either came directly from Bohol, or from neighboring towns from the mid-

1980s until the early 1990s. A small proportion of them finally established in

Bendum after being able to buy some land

Farming migration Family came directly from Bohol from the late 1980s and during 1990s, with the

male household head arriving first, to buy and farm their own land. First

families who settled were younger than the later ones

Post-frontier

movement

Families and new couple moved from the neighboring towns, in particular from

St Peter. Most of these migrations were done in the late 1980s and 1990s

Family regrouping Older couples without dependents child joined their sons established in

Bendum. Some other type of household (e.g., family with child) also initially

visited a relative but finally established

New upland migration Recently established because of the following amenities they found: price of

land, quality of the soil, accessibility and the presence of a DEPEDa accredited

elementary school

Move out

Conflicts migration Insecurity due to the conflict between AFP and NPA, the aggressive recruitment

and mobilization of NPA and the occasional violence within the migrant

community. People moved back to Bohol more or less hastily after a peak of

violence. Mainly occurred during 1990s and 2000s

Life event migration It occurred after a separation, to care an isolated parent in Bohol or because of

the sickness of a child. These moves occurred in spite of a good situation in

Bendum and all induced a move back to Bohol in the 1990s and 2000s

Education migration Household moved when the students reach College levels or after they

graduated in the neighboring urban areas or in Bohol. Most of the moves have

been done during the 1990s and 2000s

Non-adaptation

migration

Because of non-adaptation to the climate and to the remoteness of the place,

household moved back to their places of origin in Bohol in the 1990s and

2000s

Farming/livelihood

migration

Households moved out because of the problems in farming. The places of

destinations depend of the social networks, the past migratory experience and

the availability of (off-farming) jobs. Fresh college graduates also moved back

to Bohol. These moves were mostly done during the 2000s and 2010s

a DEPED for Department of Education

Popul Environ

123

allow for acquisition of this category of land but, in practice, a variety of farming

arrangements took place. Shareholder tenancy was a common arrangement although

the workers were not protected from arbitrary decisions made by the landowners.

Since tenants could readily lose access to land, this was another migration

motivation. Furthermore, the fear of being dispossessed of their land prevented

many owners from allowing shareholders to plant perennial crops (e.g., coffee or

rubber) and provoked the movement of people seeking to plant coffee during the

coffee boom which started in the 1970s. Many households then moved upstream

where available land still existed.

Commercial logging began in the 1960s. Vast tracts of land were licensed for

timber extraction through Timber License Agreements (TLA hereafter). The

companies granted TLAs were entitled to log and clear the forest in both A&D and

timberland. The subsequent chaotic natural and sociocultural environment precip-

itated the decision of some lumad households to move to more remote areas in an

effort to maintain their way of life. On the other hand, dumagat individuals moved

to the area in search of logging-related jobs. Later, some of them established farms

in logged or cleared areas. Dumagat villages emerged then where previously

logging camps had been established. In short, logging acted as an enticement for

lumads to leave the region and dumagats to migrate into the area.

More recent local and regional economic changes induced some people to leave

Bendum, permanently or temporarily, downstream and toward urban centers. The

differentiation of local economies between cities and villages created an opportunity

for the more educated of the second generation to migrate away from villages

through the offer of tertiary and off-farm employment unavailable locally. However,

some urban households were unable to afford the high cost of living especially after

the birth of a child and thus moved back to Bendum where extended family could

offer support.

Improvements in transport infrastructure during the last two decades also allowed

some individuals established in Bendum to maintain or to develop an occupation

outside the village. Increasing accessibility was then correlated with a diversification

of livelihood portfolios and the emergence of a new migration pattern. In summary,

in a relatively short period of time (±50 years), the watershed experienced severe

ecological, political, social, cultural, infrastructural and economic changes and

perturbations, due to commercial logging, politicization, population growth and

cultural changes, that overall strongly influenced migration patterns.

To and from Bohol

Interviews revealed that the issues that drove people out of central Bohol, where

most of the migrants originated, were related to (1) the small size of farms (usually

between one quarter and one half hectare planted with rice, white corn, coconut or

root crops), (2) the high rate of shareholders and (3) the landlessness problem

especially among younger people. The small farm size was a direct consequence of

land fragmentation provoked by the subdivision of land through inheritance.

Furthermore, the access to land for the younger generation was hindered because the

lowlands were already heavily populated and since environmental laws limited

Popul Environ

123

farming in the uplands. The high prevalence of shareholders was mainly due to the

unequal land distribution resultant of accumulation by absentee landowners after the

World War II (Urich 2003). For these reasons, migrations toward Mindanao, dubbed

locally as ‘the land of promises,’ were relatively common.

Four other important push factors included (1) conflicts between NPA and the

regular Philippine Army which began during the first half of the 1980s in central

Bohol, (2) soil erosion in the karstic environment, (3) the El Nino-related drought in

1973 and 1983, and (4) the limited employment opportunities outside the

agricultural sectors due to the absence of significant industries in Bohol. These

reasons were evoked in the general case of migration to Mindanao, not in the

specific case of Bendum migration.

The Bohol natives who migrated toward Mindanao in the aftermath of World

War II generally belonged to the better-off ‘landowner class’ (Urich 2003).

However, the people now living in Bendum, arrived in Mindanao during the 1970s

and later, belong to lower classes with regard to land assets. Because the best lands

in Mindanao were already occupied, the more recent migrants progressively moved

toward more remote and upland areas. The first member of a household to move was

usually an adult child, still single or recently married.

To and from Bendum

The main factors shaping migration to or from Bendum, or the decision to stay, are

provided in Table 6. Factors related to farming activity (e.g., transactions, farmed

land extension, soil degradation, cropping systems) were most frequently cited by

interviewees. Some lumads who arrived in Bendum already possessed a vast tract of

family land under customary rights (known locally as a ‘gaup’). Others were either

given land by relatives or by local political leaders, sometimes in compensation for

land lost through grabbing in another portion of the watershed.

Lumads traditionally carried out trade through barter and when the opportunity

arose for them to trade with the newly migrated dumagats, their inexperience in cash

economy often led land owners exchanging land for goods at an enviably low rate.

Even so, the products of the land transactions between lumads and dumagats, either

in cash or in kind, were instrumental in alleviating seasonal hunger and to cover

lumad’s basic needs or emergency expenses (Lawrence 1995). A number of the

perceived ‘better’ plots of land were also acquired by dumagats from local political

leaders without consideration of previous land users (usually lumads). A

consequence was that lumads did not retain much of the best lands and that the

spatial distribution of land does not appear to be independent of the ethnicity of the

owners.

The concept of ‘good land’ is, however, relative in the uplands since modern

agrarian practices are not adapted to mountainous soil conditions. The continuous

cultivation, regular plowing and reduction of crop diversity contribute (among other

factors) to the erosion of fertile topsoil leading to the reduction of yields (Rola et al.

2010). The subsequent declining agricultural rent became a cause of out-migration

starting from the early 2000s. Agrarian and demographic changes are therefore

correlated.

Popul Environ

123

Most of the farming systems developed by the dumagats until the late 1990s

relied on the combination of coffee as cash crop and white corn as subsistence crop.

Labor in coffee farming was a major pull factor in the arrival of youth from Bohol

from the mid-1980s to the 1990s. Thereafter, the reduction of coffee price combined

with the credit access through local financers paved the way to the adoption of corn

(first hybrid and then GMO) for animal feeds, for which the farmers began to use

chemical fertilizers. The areas in which hybrid corn was planted gradually increased

until the majority of farmers realized the financial dangers of the venture.

Nevertheless, the period coincided with high labor availability in the community,

which was a major source of income for lumads who had not developed cash crop

cultivation to the same extent as dumagats. The abandonment of corn by dumagats

meant a relative increase in land devoted to crops such as rubber which was

preferred by absentee landowners for its ease of monitoring, the good farm gate

prices, and because it was less labor-intensive. The requirement for labor in rubber

plantation is inferior to the labor necessary for corn and coffee farms. Reduction or

absence of daily work is frequently cited by both second-generation lumads and

dumagats as a reason to move.

Table 6 Bendum’s attributes which impacted the decision-making

Attributes Process at stakes

Culture Co-existence of different cultural groups has induced some multilateral acculturation

process, e.g., consumption and farming practices patterns; language and attached

beliefs. Acculturation is more easily observed in the second generation

Demography Population growth has secondary effects: political—and corollary benefices of public

services—and economical (higher demand for basic products and for leisure—

karaoke—). Because most of the out-migrants are youths, the dumagat population tends

to age

Economy The flows of cash and the supply of farm labor jobs evolved with the major crops planted

Environment Valuation of environmental amenities by the first IP settlers that sustained their traditional

activities (upland rice, hunting, gathering non-timber forest products). Second-

generation individuals now value environmental amenities such as clean air, cool

temperature and calm

Farming Initial low value of land combined with good soils attracted the first dumagats.

Progressive extension of farmland and conservation-oriented policies increased the rate

of occupancy of marginal land. Soil degradation due to continuous farming and

increasing chemical

Land use Land use changes which occurred in response to the market demand, price of inputs, the

dependency ratio within household, the occurrence of pest, the type of landowners (e.g.,

absentee landowners), and finances constraints, induce different labor needs

Location Accessibility and remoteness were criteria of attraction or repulsion for different

population at different periods

Public

services

The development of public services (1) allows the diversification of livelihood through

the improvement of roads access, (2) induces the development of a cash economy

through the fees required to access the different services and (3) by increasing the

exposure of children to education alters the decisions taken by the educated children

Security Latent insecurity triggers a permanent state of vulnerability while punctual peak of

violence triggers movement of both ethnic groups

Popul Environ

123

Finally, the closing of the forest frontiers, through conservation-based policies,

also reduced the opportunities for land acquisition, in particular for younger

households, which was frequently cited as a further reason to move. It is notable that

in other parts of Mindanao, the lack of available land benefited second level cities as

early as the 1970s (Keely 1973).

In all, the most important processes that affected the early movement of

households from Bohol to the Pulangi watershed and Bendum were related to land

availability. This is not unexpected given that the subject households are primarily

farmers. If access to land was a major pull factor, the declining agricultural rent

progressively became a major push factor from purely agricultural areas to more

diversified areas. The achievement of higher education levels has been instrumental

in this transition because of the changes in terms of skills and knowledge but also

representations and perspectives.

Moves and migration from the perspectives of individuals and households

Some individual and household attributes combined with the above processes

influenced the decision to move or to stay (see Table 7).

The interviews revealed that second and third generation residents clearly have

had a significantly different life experience as compared to the pioneers. They have

had a more exposure to formal education, the cash economy, ‘modern’ life and the

culture of the lowlands (due to better transport infrastructure). One consequence of

these changes has been the blurring in distinction of classic migration types between

educated second-generation lumads and dumagats. The impact of higher education

(high school level and above) has expanded interest in employment outside of the

agricultural sector. Further, intercultural weddings between lumad and dumagat

have also altered migration patterns of lumads; some following their spouses to

Bohol.

The livelihood framework allows the analysis to go beyond the simplistic view of

migrant as a rational decision maker such as in the neo-classical model (Piotrowski

and Tong 2013). This framework focuses on the assets (social, physical, natural,

human and financial) of the household and the ways in which assets shape migration

decision-making. Here, social networks, and more specifically, the kin networks,

appear to have deeply influenced both the decision to move and the destination of

the movement through information or financial support. Through population inertia

(Barbieri et al. 2009), these networks created kin- and acquaintance-based clusters.

Low levels of capital in the form of land meant that network-based migrations were

particularly significant in the region. The absence of private insurance and

ineffectiveness of policies aimed to alleviate poverty also drove migration.

Discussion

Results confirm that the pioneers were risk-takers while later newcomers had higher

risk aversion. Chayanov’s household lifecycle model helps to define the differential

propensity of individuals to move at different stages in their life. The tenets

Popul Environ

123

underlying the model assert that lifecycle and age both alter the level of risk aversion

and subsequently the propensity to move (Barbieri et al. 2009; Raharto and Noveria

2005). The modeled relation adopts a reverse U-shape form where the risk aversion is

low for younger individuals, increases for the older couples and finally reduces for

the older people, irrespective of whether married or widowed. A relation also exists

between risk aversion and the ratio of dependents to workers within a household. In

the present study, this model has only been challenged in a limited number of cases,

when insecurity (physical or tenure) was high or when the migration was over a short

distance. The risk aversion to migrate to Bendum also decreased after the first

migrants experienced some economic success, e.g., due to coffee production.

In the Amazon, the stage at which cash crops developed was linked with the

aging of the frontier and with advanced household lifecycles (VanWey et al. 2012).

Table 7 Household’s attributes which impacted the decision-making

Household attributes Impact on the decision to move

Assets/capital Social capital has (1) directed the moves, (2) supplied information relative to the

land-related opportunities, (3) been instrumental in the increasing access to

education through financial support and accommodation given by relative living

in the vicinity of the village, (4) reduced the cost of migration

Human capital through education level and health problems

Natural capital: together the size of the farm or the absence of land to till induced

some move either within the watershed or from Bohol. Declining rent induced

some move toward new frontier (older generation) or urban areas (younger

generation)

Financial assets are used to finance the education of the child which finally

increases the propensity to move out (substitution of natural capital by human

capital). The actual lack of finances in particular to afford fertilizer drives the

household to places where they can find off-farming or non-farming jobs

Individual physical assets like motorbike allow to diversify livelihood and to

reduce the dependence on farming.

Ethnicity and

tradition

Both affect the range of potential place to move to. Traditional lumad wedding

induced specific moves after the wedding. Moving was also a common way to

avoid the growth of familial or community conflicts within the lumad culture

Generation Second-generation migrants have a higher degree of attachment to the village

which translated into the decision-making regarding a move or a stay. The

higher level of exposure of second-generation migrant to education,

globalization and cash economy induced specific generation-based migrations,

in particular oriented toward tertiary and off-farming jobs. A generational shift

was observed regarding the main reasons to move: from land-related to cash-

related

Household lifecycle Correlated with different risk aversion that depends of the composition of the

household, the lifecycle stage, but also the period and the geographical move

Past migratory

experiences

The exposure to urban areas increases the propensity to move again toward urban

areas and modify the attitude toward farming

The improvement of standard of living in the new place of residence by a prior

migrant increased the propensity of kin members to migrate also. Success of

prior migrants in the coffee production thus positively influenced further

migration

Popul Environ

123

Yet in our Philippines study setting, it was found that the first dumagat pioneers

planted coffee, a cash crop, in addition to staple food (white corn). The local

presence of buyers and shorter distances to processing plants may explain the

distinction.

In the rural Philippines, older couples without dependent children who joined

adult sons also appeared to be an exception in the frontier area. The majority of

migrants were of productive and reproductive ages (Pichon 1997).

The ‘arrival first’ model, however, replicates quite faithfully when only dumagats

are considered as migrants. However, a difference is that the initial model fails to

predict the asymmetry of land holdings between locals (lumads) and migrants

(dumagats). Another difference with Amazon cases is the absence of evidence that

the remittance sent by out-migrants encouraged the adoption of livestock or

perennial crops (Carr 2004; Barbieri et al. 2009). It was found that the remittances

sent by the youth working outside Bendum mainly supported household food

consumption and the education of siblings. Indeed, the importance given to

extended family in the Philippines, and not the nuclear family, has some major

implications on the migration patterns. As in many other places, social networks

strongly influence the direction of movement (De Jong et al. 1996; Massey 1990;

Raleigh 2011), but here we have demonstrated this for populations with different

cultural background (both lumads and dumagats). Finally, the progressive

movement of both locals and migrants toward more upstream marginal agricultural

lands, in response to social and environmental changes, is not commonly found in

the literature—but is a pattern that emerged in our Philippines study setting.

The study also offered evidence on the existing links between environment and

population changes. In Bohol, sending a household member outside corresponded to

a household strategy to spread risks across uncorrelated markets and to maximize

household welfare (Williams and Balaz 2012; Findley 1987; Cohen and Sirkeci

2011). Furthermore, because neither cropland extension nor intensification was

possible, as the multiphasic model anticipates (Bilsborrow and Ogendo 1992),

temporary migrations followed by permanent ones occurred (Carr et al. 2009).

Years of extractive agriculture combined with the use of chemical fertilizer (used

for hybrid corn) undermined soil fertility and crop production, which became the

proximate drivers of out-migration. Ironically, this happened even though soil

fertility was evoked as the main reason of their arrival in Bendum. On the very short

term, the access to credit for buying chemical fertilizers allowed recent returnee

migrants to override the reduction of natural soil fertility, but the long-term strategy

of out-migration is likely to continue if soil fertility is not restored.

Conclusion

A unique aspect of this study has been the consideration given to both in-migrants

and out-migrants (Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). Several qualitative and quantitative

differences between the movement patterns of indigenous peoples (lumads) and

migrants (dumagats) were found.

Popul Environ

123

Two broad categories of migration determinants were investigated: the socio-

environmental processes and individual/household attributes. Regarding individual

and household attributes, our attention was focused on ethnicity, tradition,

generation, household lifecycle, assets and past experiences, while the main

socio-environmental processes analyzed are related to the land: cultivation,

appropriation, exclusion, fertility among others. Indeed, land scarcity and land

productivity were key drivers of migration across the study period.

Also, key in shaping migration was commercial logging. The limited willingness

and capacity of the government to enforce the law within timberland areas thereafter

paved the way for the colonization process. In Bohol, structural and conjectural land

and farming problems drove out-migration of farmers for several generations. The

more recent out-migration was due to conservation-oriented policies, intergener-

ational cultural changes and the declining rent of extractive agriculture. Further-

more, the appeal to become a farmer, as a strong motivation of migrants, has been

replaced by the promise to obtain off-farm or service jobs. The primordial role of

education on out-migration of second-generation migrants confirms the model

which predicts migration when the educational level and the occupation mismatch

(Quinn and Rubb 2005).

Overall, migrations in this region can be included in complex causality networks

and seen as both the cause and consequence of changes and impacts on the society

and the environment. Here, migrations were associated with long-term impacts such

as acculturation, farming practice changes followed by soil degradation, new food/

good consumption patterns and politicization.

Disregard for traditions, misunderstanding of local ecologies, misconceptions

about causes and solutions to poverty in the uplands and lack of resident

involvement produced a number of ineffective policy programs through the years

(e.g., contour farming, pro-poor seeds dispersal). We argue that the uplands must

receive policy and programmatic attention that respects local sociocultural and

ecological diversity. Further studies of migration patterns, farming practices and

environmental changes in the uplands should inform these initiatives.

Acknowledgments The authors are thankful to the Belgian Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique

(FNRS) for part-funding the research project Modeling Agrarian and Population Dynamics in the

Philippines (MAPDIP). The authors are also grateful to two research assistants, Jenifer Ogania and Aili

Gatuslao, for their invaluable help in the collection of primary and secondary data. The authors thank

anonymous reviewers for insightful and constructive comments and suggestions. Conor Cahill, a native

English speaker, was employed to review a late draft of this paper.

Ethical standards The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were

performed.

References

Acejo, I., Del Prado, F., Remolino, D. (2004). Tourism fuels an emerging city: The case of Tagbilaran

City, Bohol. Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Discussion Paper no 2004–2053, Manila.

Aclub, R. (2010). Bendum community census. Bendum sitio.

Popul Environ

123

Adem, E. S. (1982). Bohol out-migrants: a case study. SEAPRAP Research no 74, Xavier University,

Cagayan de Oro.

Aldrich, S., Walker, R., Simmons, C., Caldas, M., & Perz, S. (2012). Contentious land change in the

Amazon’s arc of deforestation. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 102(1),

103–128.

Amacher, G. S., Cruz, W., Grebner, D., & Hude, W. F. (1998). Environmental motivations for migration:

Population pressure, poverty, and deforestation in the Philippines. Land Economics, 74(1), 92–101.

APCEC. (2009). Pulangiyen customs and traditions. Bendum: Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education

Center.

Barbieri, A. F., Bilsborrow, R. E., & Pan, W. K. (2006). Farm household lifecycles and land use in the

Ecuadorian Amazon. Population and Environment, 27(1), 1–27.

Barbieri, A. F., Carr, D. L., & Bilsborrow, R. E. (2009). Migration within the frontier: The second

generation colonization in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Population Research and Policy Review, 28(3),

1–29.

Bilsborrow, R. E., & Ogendo, H. W. O. O. (1992). Population-driven changes in land use in developing

countries. Ambio, 21(1), 37–45.

Carr, D. L. (2004). Proximate population factors and deforestation in tropical agricultural frontiers.

Population and Environment, 25(6), 585–612.

Carr, D. L., Lopez, A. C., & Bilsborrow, R. E. (2009). The population, agriculture, and environment

nexus in Latin America: Country-level evidence from the latter half of the twentieth century.

Population and Environment, 30(6), 222–246.

Carr, D. L., Suter, L., & Barbieri, A. (2006). Population dynamics and tropical deforestation: State of the

debate and conceptual challenges. Population and Environment, 27(1), 89–113.

Caviglia-Harris, J. L., Sills, E. O., & Mullan, K. (2013). Migration and mobility on the Amazon frontier.

Population and Environment, 34(3), 338–369.

Cohen, J. H., & Sirkeci, I. (2011). Cultures of migration. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Cruz, M. C. J., Zosa-Feranil, I., & Goce, C. L. (1988). Population pressure and migration: Implications for

upland development in the Philippines. Journal of Philippine Development, 15(1), 15–46.

De Jong, G. F., Richter, K., & Isarabhakdi, P. (1996). Gender, values, and intentions to move in rural

Thailand. International Migration Review, 30(3), 748–770.

De Sherbinin, A., Vanwey, L., McSweeney, K., Aggarwal, R., Barbieri, A. F., Henry, S., et al. (2008).

Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment. Global Environmental Change,

18(1), 38–53.

DeFries, R., Asner, G. P., & Foley, J. (2006). A glimpse out the window Landscapes, livelihoods and the

environment. Environment, 48(1), 22–36.

Eder, J. F. (1990). Deforestation and detribalization in the Philippines: The Palawan case. Population and

Environment, 12(2), 99–115.

Elmhirst, R. (2012). Displacement, resettlement, and multi-local livelihoods. Critical Asian Studies,

44(1), 131–152.

Findley, S. E. (1987). An interactive contextual model of migration in Ilocos Norte, the Philippines.

Demography, 24(2), 163–190.

Islam, K. R., & Weil, R. R. (2000). Land use effects on soil quality in a tropical forest ecosystem of

Bangladesh. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 79, 9–16.

Keely, C. B. (1973). Philippine migration: Internal movements and emigration to the United States.

International Migration, 7(2), 177–187.

Lacuna-Richman, C. (2006). The use of non-wood forest products by migrants in a new settlement:

Experiences of a Visayan community in Palawan, Philippines. Journal of Ethnobiology and

Ethnomedicine, 2, 36.

Lasco, R. D., Visco, R. G., & Pulhin, J. M. (2001). Secondary forests in the Philippines: Formation and

transformation in the 20th century. Journal of Tropical Forest Science, 13(4), 652–670.

Lawrence, K. E. (1995). Bendum socio-economic profile. Manila: Environmental Research Division,

Manila Observatory.

Lopez-Carr, D., & Burgdorfer, J. (2013). Deforestation drivers: Population, migration, and tropical land

use. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 55(1), 3–11.

Lu, F., Gray, C., Bilsborrow, R. E., Mena, C. F., Erlien, C. M., Bremner, J., et al. (2010). Contrasting

colonist and indigenous impacts on amazonian forests. Conservation Biology, 24(3), 881–885.

Massey, D. S. (1990). Social structure, household strategies, and the cumulative causation of migration.

Population Index, 56(1), 3–26.

Popul Environ

123

Mcdowell, C., de Haan, A. (1997). Migration and sustainable livelihoods: a critical review of the

literature. Institute of Development Studies: working paper 65.

National Statistics Office (2010). Census of Population and Housing. Manila.

NSO National Statistics Office. (2013). Bohol Quickstat. Manila: Databank and Information Services

Division.

Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., & McMahon, T. A. (2007). Updated world map of the Koppen-Geiger

climate classification. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11, 1633–1644.

Pichon, F. J. (1997). Colonist land-allocation decisions, land use, and deforestation in the Ecuadorian

Amazon frontier. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 45(4), 707–744.

Piotrowski, M., & Tong, Y. (2013). Straddling two geographic regions: The impacts of place of origin and

destination on return migration intentions in China. Population, Space and Place, 19(3), 329–349.

Quinn, M. A., & Rubb, S. (2005). The importance of education-occupation in migration matching

decisions. Demography, 42(1), 153–167.

Raharto, A., & Noveria, M. (2005). Youth migration and change in Indonesia. In F. Gale & S. Faley

(Eds.), Youth in transition: The challenges of generational change in Asia (pp. 140–157). Bangkok:

UNESCO.

Raleigh, C. (2011). The search for safety: The effects of conflict, poverty and ecological influences on

migration in the developing world. Global Environmental Change, 21, 82–93.

Rindfuss, R. R., Entwisle, B., Walsh, S. J., Mena, C. F., Erlien, C. M., & Grayz, C. L. (2007). Frontier

land use change: Synthesis, challenges, and next steps. Annals of the Association of American

Geographers, 97(4), 739–754.

Rola, A. C., & Coxhead, I. (2002). Does nonfarm job growth encourage or retard soil conservation in

Philippine uplands ? Philippine Journal of Development, 29(1), 55–83.

Rola, A. C., Sajise, A. J. U., Harder, D. S., & Alpuerto, J. M. P. (2010). Soil conservation decisions and

upland corn productivity: A Philippine case study. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development,

6(2), 1–19.

Ruf, F. (2001). Tree crops as deforestation and reforestation agents: the case of cocoa in Cote d’Ivoire and

Sulawesi. In A. Angelsen & D. Kaimowitz (Eds.), Agricultural technologies and tropical

deforestation (pp. 291–316). Wallingford: CABI.

Siebert, S. F. (1984). Conserving tropical rainforests: The case of Leyte Mountains National Park,

Philippines. Mountain Research and Development, 4(3), 272–276.

Southgate, D. (1990). The causes of land degradation along ‘‘Spontaneously’’ expanding agricultural

frontiers in the Third World. Land Economics, 66(1), 93–101.

Stark, O., & Bloom, D. E. (1985). The new economics of labor migration. American Economic Review,

75(2), 173–178.

Tabbada, K. A., Trejaut, J., Loo, J. H., Chen, Y. M., Lin, M., Mirazon-Lahr, M., et al. (2010). Philippine

mitochondrial DNA diversity: A populated Viaduct between Taiwan and Indonesia? Molecular

Biology and Evolution, 27(1), 21–31.

Tigno, J. V. (2006). Migration and violent conflict in Mindanao. Population Review, 45(1), 23–47.

Urich, P. B. (2003). Land tenure history insurgency social forestry in Bohol. Philippine Quarterly of

Culture and Society, 31, 156–181.

VanWey, L. K., Guedes, G. R., & D’Antona, A. O. (2012). Out-migration and land-use change in

agricultural frontiers: Insights from Altamira settlement project. Population and Environment,

34(1), 44–68.

Walpole, P. W. (2002). An analysis of the drivers and impacts of land use change in the tropical uplands

of Mindanao, Philippines. Change. Ph.D. Dissertation, King’s College London.

Wernstedt, F. L., & Simkins, P. D. (1965). Migrations and the settlement of Mindanao. The Journal of

Asian Studies, 25(1), 83–103.

Williams, A. M., & Balaz, V. (2012). Migration, risk, and uncertainty: Theoretical perspectives.

Population, Space and Place, 18, 167–180.

Popul Environ

123

View publication statsView publication stats