In the highlands of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), farming shapes daily life. Every terrace carved into the mountains and every hand that tills the soil speaks of families who never left the land that raised them.
On the region’s fertile slopes, crops flourish alongside a steadfast rhythm of community. Highland vegetables travel from these lands to tables across the nation, yet the true wealth lives in a conviction shared by all – no one stands alone.
This sense of connection is woven through the lives of the Cordillerans. The region cradles a mosaic of indigenous groups – Kankanaey, Ibaloy, Bontok, Kalinga, Isneg, Itneg, Ifugao, Kalanguya, and Ga’dang, each with its own language and ritual, yet bound by an enduring principle – helping one another.
This is binnadang – a tradition of cooperation where hands meet in labor, and effort is shared without expecting return. In some areas, it is called ug-ugbo or ob-obbo in Mountain Province, pachang or daun among the Kankanaey and Ibaloy, and ub-ubbo in Ifugao. Whatever the name suggests, the meaning stays the same – no work is too heavy when done together.
Binnadang is not a concept to explain, rather it is a lifestyle. It shows farmers who set aside their own fields to help a neighbor plant before the rains come, or in a village gathering to rebuild a home lost to a landslide. It is a cooperation made habit, kindness turns muscle memory.
That same spirit of helping one another lives on in the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program, now in its second phase in the Cordillera.
In many ways, SAAD works like a form of binnadang. It reaches out to the farthest sitios, not only to give livelihood support, but to stand beside farmers as partners, learning with them, building with them, and trusting that real progress grows from within the community.
In Paracelis, Mountain Province, the Akeg Farmers Association Inc. has begun to see this unfold.
“Bareng daytoy project no dumteng ti aldaw, agbalin kami nga kooperatiba tapno haan lang nga dakami ken jay pamilya mi ti matultulungan mi nu di ket makatulong kami met kadagiti sabali nga tao wenno asosyasyon,” shared their secretary, Analiza L. Fangonon.
[We hope this project will lead us to become a cooperative, so we can help not only ourselves and our families but also other people and associations.]
Her words reflect what many Cordilleran farmers believe that progress only matters when it lifts others, too.
In Abra, Angelino Padre, president of the Sitio Callunay-Bitnong Gunglo Ti Mannalon, echoed the same thought: “Haan lang nga dakami ti matulungan ti SAAD, mairaman met lang daytoy community mi nga rumang-ay.” [SAAD helps not only us but also our entire community to prosper.]
For these farmers, SAAD carries forward the values they have lived by for generations, helping to strengthen their communities and support one another so that everyone can grow and prosper together.
Even as technology changes how they work, Cordilleran farmers hold on to what truly sustains them: unity, respect, and the willingness to share both effort and reward.
Through the partnership between SAAD and the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera, the spirit of binnadang lives on. It shows that real development takes root when culture is honored and when hands and hearts work together.
