Uplifting the city's lumads

Friday, January 20, 2012

MORE often than not, a person's birthday is the most important day for someone's life or at least the day that you can really say that it’s their day.

For our lumad brothers and sisters living in the hinterland barangays in the city, especially those who were accustomed to their native traditions, the concept of a birthday doesn't exist.

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Though Datu Berino Mambo-o Sr., the newly installed representative of the indigenous peoples and Muslim affairs to the City Council, fills up legal documents when asked for his birth date, he doesn't really know when he was born.

For Mambo-o, it's no big deal not to know when he was born because dates are just numbers and they do not determine one's future.
Mabo-o is the child of Gungulan and Merlina, both farmers in Paquibato District, Davao City.

After finishing his elementary at Panaga Elementary School in Paquibato District, he then moved to Maryknoll High School in Maco, Davao del Norte.

In college, he enrolled at the Bukidnon State University (BSU) in New Bataan where he finished three years in Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education.

For Mambo-o, what he can contribute to his fellow lumads is educating them of their rights as citizens of this country and this city.

His humility is far beyond compare. He said as a councilor, one of his dreams is to educate his fellow lumads to uphold and cherish their native tradition and embrace some modern-day practices that boost and sustain their rich tradition.

"Gusto nako mapasabot sa ilaha na dili na nila kalimtan ang ilang kultura samtang naga buhat sa mga bag-ong mga biuhaton (I wanted to educate them that they don't have to compromise their culture in adopting things that are new to them)," Mambo-o said.

During his first two sessions, the new councilor admitted, though, that he experienced difficulties in adjusting to his present work.

From a nursery caretaker at the City Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro) to a licensed solemnizing officer of the City Civil Registrar, Berino said he will make use of his three years for the betterment of the entire lumads in the city with the assistance of his beloved wife Erlinda and four children, namely Bernalin, Berino Jr, Bryan, and Berlinda.