Alubijid and Huluga archaeological sites

Elson Elizaga .

I ENVY the people of Alubijid. They have an archaeological site declared as an ancient settlement by archaeologist Leee Anthony Neri, and the mayor of Alubijid has expressed plans to have the lot purchased by the local government, so that it can be preserved and protected.

The archaeological settlement site is in Calumat. I have not been to the place, but online reports state humans had lived there in 3,000 BC. Rappler and Mindanao Gold Star Daily have published photos of a clay pottery sherd and a stone tool. Obsidian flakes, and a bowl apparently from what is now Vietnam, have also been discovered on what is described as a hill with a 360-degree view.

There is also a hill in the Huluga archaeological site with a similar feature. I called it Stegodon Hill because a resident there claimed someone found elephant tusks in the area. I named another one Obsidian Hill because of the proliferation of this volcanic glass, but in this same place, we have also found clay pottery sherds with incised designs similar to those in Alubijid. We also collected Chinese pottery sherds, chert flakes, a metal tip of a whale harpoon, and a Spanish Maravedis coin. Many years earlier, a team from Xavier University had discovered caves in Huluga containing human bones, beads, and tools.

During one of our visits to Huluga around 2004, I found an unusual stone later described by the late Dr. Erlinda Burton as a meteorite. I wondered from what region in space it came from, and how it found its way along a grassy footpath, and eventually in my palm.

These were not all. Huluga has an ancient garbage site, a midden, containing animal bones, including that of a wild boar, and shells. In 2009, as I mentioned in my previous column, prehistoric human bones belonging to 52 women, men, and a child were discovered in a gravesite in Huluga, proving that Huluga is an archaeological settlement.

Even before the discovery of the grave, Burton had recommended the preservation of Huluga, convinced that it is a settlement site (like Calumat). She, her assistant Lourd Ostique and I even went to Camp Evangelista to to request the military to put guards in Huluga. Burton wanted a two-kilometer radius in Huluga protected. I believe she also wrote to the National Museum about this idea.

But no one from the government heeded her advice. Despite protests from the Heritage Conservation Advocates (HCA), which she was president, former mayor Vicente Emano ordered his contractor UKC Builders to bulldoze Obsidian Hill to give way to a road-and-bridge project. (One of the owners of the hill is councilor Edna Dahino.)

The city historical and cultural commission, the group that is supposed to be concerned about Huluga and other heritage sites, did not lift a finger to stop this desecration. One of its members, Nanette Roa, who has the gall to run for councilor today, said Huluga was not damaged at all, despite the scattering of pottery sherds on the road. Later, she said Huluga was only a “camp-like” area. She was quoting a dubious archaeological report by a team from the Archaeological Studies Program (ASP).

With the help of Atty. Manuel Ravanera, HCA filed an administrative case against Emano and UKC before the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB). EMB found Emano guilty of violating environmental laws. He was told to pay P50,000 but he has never given that amount.

Cagayan de Oro is rich in cultural history, indeed. The tragedy is its own government, not a team of foreign mercenaries, had laid siege on its heritage site. Two members of native founding families also participated in this attack, and even now have not done anything to preserve and protect the land of their ancestors.

Elson T. Elizaga was the former secretary of the now defunct Heritage Conservation Advocates (heritage.elizaga.net).

Updated May 15, 2019