Javier and Asuncion reexamine their fieldwork experiences with Bisaya in Manticao

As part of the sixth installment of this year’s Philippine Indigenous Languages Lecture Series (PILLS 2025), Assoc. Prof. Jem R. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Patricia Y. Asuncion recount and reexamine their fieldwork experience in Manticao, Misamis Oriental and how the lessons they gained from the field can inform further field activities and the development of linguistic fieldwork. In particular, Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion focus on Bisaya (ISO 639-3 [ceb]) as spoken in Manticao. Their lecture is entitled “Sa dagat at bundok: Ilang tala mula sa isinagawang fieldwork sa komunidad na nagsasalita ng Bisaya sa Manticao, Misamis Oriental” (In the seas and in the mountains: Some notes on the fieldwork with communities that speak Bisaya in Manticao, Misamis Oriental).

Their fieldwork was conducted from 29 July to 12 August 2025 as part of the Lingg 225 [Mga Pangfild na Metod sa Linggwistiks] Midyear class that was also conducted with the Department of Anthropology Field School on the same year. Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Assuncion’s goals for the lecture was to introduce fieldwork to the students of the 2025 Lingg 125 [Introduksyon sa mga Pangfild na Metod] and Lingg 225 classes and to reevalute Consuelo J. Paz’s Gabay sa Fildwurk (2005) by revisiting their own fieldwork experiences. This in-person lecture was held last 24 June 2025 at the CSSP Health & Wellness Center located on the third floor of Palma Hall Pavillion One, but the lecture can also be viewed online on the Department’s Youtube channel.

Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion start off their lecture by introducing the fieldwork locale. Their fieldwork was mainly conducted around Barangay Poblacion of Manticao but they also went to the neighboring sitios up to the Upper Malubog area and even until Mahayahay where other ethnolinguistic groups like the Higaonon reside. Manticao is located in the Northern portion of Mindanao and most people here live along coastal and riverine areas but the indigenous people of the area live in the mountainous portions. The main language of Manticao is Bisaya [ceb] but Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion report that the residents of Manticao refer to their language as saksak-sinagol ‘mix’ where their Bisaya is described as having multiple influences from different languages such as Binukid, Subanon, Higaonon, Maranao, Filipino/Tagalog, and English. This is also reflected in the performed heritage of the area. Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion recall, upon touching down the airport, they immediatelt notice a “Tri-People” poster showing the three people groups of the area: Bisaya, Lumad (Higanon or Bukidnon), and Moro (Maranao).

The Lingg 225 fieldwork class submitted to the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Ethics Review Board (CSSP-ERB) a project that would investigate the linguistic situation in Manticao, Misamis Oriental. Under this umbrella project are the individual projects of the students which include language vitality assessment, dialectology, language shift, using the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) Multilingual Assessment Tool (MAT), idiomaticity and code-switching in multilingual areas, language in the home and different generations in the community, language education and school experiences of the language policies. Their fieldwork class was conducted based on the framework found in Paz’s Gabay sa Fieldwork. This book is a compilation of the experiences of the academics across different fields doing fieldwork in the different parts of the Philippines under the former Programa sa Pag-aaral ng Etnolinggwistikong Grupo (PPEG) of CSSP and as such, the book is grounded in the Philippine context and features not only actual experiences but helpful tips as well for the new Lingg 125 and 225 students.

Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion also underscore Paz’s definition of fieldwork. Paz defines fildwurk as a chance to listen and understand perspectives that one does not simply learn from books or other reference materials and to experience a world outside of the researchers’ or students’ own world. In other words, fieldwork is about interaction or pagkakapwa-tao and pakikisalamuha. For linguists specifically, fieldwork is also about studying language in situ and to assess the effectivity and applicability of theories studied in the classroom; however, Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion remind the audience that fieldwork does not start and end with the gathering of data—fieldwork is not just data elicitation. They further add that students in fieldwork also end up learning other important skills such as designing elicitation materials, transcription, and translation among others depending on the project.

Teaching Assoc. Asuncion’s sub-project during the fieldwork class was investigating the linguistic landscape of lowland Mindanao. She wanted to know what languages are found on public signs including languages such as Bisaya, Tagalog, and English and which of these languages are more utilized in government announcements. She points out that one announcement for COVID-19 shows an acronym BIDA in Tagalog that is composed of Bisaya elements: Bawal wala’y mask (Not wearing of masks is prohibited), I-sanitize ang mga kamot (Sanitize one’s hands), Distansya og usa ka metro (Maintain a distance of one meter), and Aksyon base sa insakto nga impormasyon (Act based on correct information), but at the same time, there are many elements in the same announcement that are in English and are left untranslated.

Teaching Assoc. Asuncion also shows how the Manticaonon demonstrate creative use of their large linguistic repertoires. She brings up the example of a bakery named Basic Knead (a play on English basic needs) and another bakery named Madelicious Bakeshop (a combination of the Tagalog stative prefix ma- and English delicious). Teaching Assoc. Asuncion then assets that through fieldwork, one becomes intimate with these local references and one gets to know the attitude of locals.

When getting to know the informants more, Teaching Assoc. Asuncion emphasizes that fieldworkers should always leave space for unexpected answers. In one of the projects, she recalls an episode involving a linguistic questionnaire on linguistic attitudes. One of the questions asks: what language is spoken in a certain purok but the informant responds not only with an enumeration of languages but also with their accomnpanying opinions on certain languages including both positive and negative opinions. On another level, Teaching Assoc. Asuncion also notes that perception of language is correlated with schooling. Asking why an informant speaks Tagalog well, she received responses where informants indicated their varying levels of educational attainment.

Aside from attitudes and linguistic ecology, there was also a project on the local experiences of language policies in Manticao especially with regards to the individual school experiences of the Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education policy. Assoc. Prof. Javier reports that most parents find learning Tagalog and English advantageous since these languages are used in the workplace no matter where their kids may end up finding jobs. That said, the informants also emphasize that they continue using their own home languages whenever possible. Returning back to the signages, Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion also end up interrogating why Filipino is absent from the signages. The response that they receives was that this was the template from the regional Department of Education (DepEd) office. Assoc. Prof. Javier argues that these different language uses in multilingual Manticao is in a way a form of negotiation.

He retells one anecdote. There was one student who came from Manila and couldn’t speak a lick of Bisaya. Teachers made this student a Tagalog practice partner for the other students, but after a year this student ended up becaming proficient in Bisaya. Aside from the other students helping this new student out, MTB-MLE also became an avenue for the student to learn Bisaya as a foreign language. This is one of the ways in which the local schools negotiate with the MTB-MLE policies. Assoc. Prof. Javier also reports that prior to MTB-MLE, there was already a policy from Pagawan Elementary School called “Learning from the heart.” The principal from Pagawan Elementary School explained that this policy is about how teachers used Bisaya to help students understand technical English and Filipino concepts even before MTB-MLE. The principal then argues that students who “learned from the heart” are now able to explain English technical terms in Bisaya and vice versa.

What Assoc. Prof. Javier’s and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion’s experiences show is that intimate interaction with communities during fieldwork is really important. Borrowing from Anthrpology and Batangas Tagalog, Assoc. Prof. Javier invokes the term pakikilasa (equivalent to pakiramdam)—the first thing that an ethnographer does before going to fieldwork: to observe, to listen, to interact, and to participate. One of the overall goals of fieldwork then is magkapalagayang-loob where the researcher or student become confident enough with the community to share with them their own personal research goals. So when researching language, you are not only interested in the language but also the people themselves and Gabay sa Fildwurk even emphasizes the importance of caring for and maintaining relationships. So, the researcher must be sensitive with the situation and context of the informant and make sure that they do not intrude upon the informants’ work or rest. They should only do so during the informants’ time of convenience. Assoc. Prof. Javier then argues that fieldwork is not informant work in the field. One should see the nuances in the community that cannot be found in an office consultation. Additionally, Teaching Assoc. Asuncion makes some further reminders during fieldwork: that we shouldd always be ready for anything (laging handa), that we should take into consideration our context here in the Philippines (e.g., limited resources and funds, getting to know the locale, budget flexibility, etc.), and that as researchers and students, we have our own biases and positionality (background, identity, experiences) that can affect our interpretations and analyses; and that, we should always acknowledge these biases and positionalities along with out privileges. Teaching Assoc. Asuncion, continues: a keen awareness of these things help us negotiate and help us not appear detached or indifferent.

Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion cap off their lecture by quoting Paz’s Gabay sa Fildwork: “hindi dapat hanapin o antayin na mabago ang mga kondisyon at kapaligiran sa fild para bumagay sa nakasanayan ng researcher (one must not find or wait for the conditions and environment of the field to go with what the researcher is accustomed to),” “ang pinakamabuting atityud ng nagrereserts sa fild ay ang pananaw na kapwa researcher ang mga tumutulong sa kanya, indibidwal man o komunidad (The best attitude for one doing research in the field is the view that he is helped by his fellow researchers whether they be individuals or the community),” and “kelangan na sikaping makinabing din [sa pananaliksik ang komunidad (one must make an effort (for one’s research) to be helpful to the community).” As Teaching Assoc. Asuncion concludes, fieldwork is a humbling experience.

Though Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion’s lecture is in commemoration of Paz’s work, they also provide their own ammendments to Gabay sa Fildwurk. Some of these include:

• We must consider the requirement of an ethics clearance and the tedious process of aquiring it from the CSSP-ERB for research involving human participants, but at the same time, Assoc. Prof. Javier also points out that some types of research such as ethnography need the ethnographer to go to the community even before the start of the research—a process that is discouraged by the current ERB process. That said, he also reminds us that obtaining an ethics clearance is important so that we do not miss out any stakeholder in doing ethical research.
• While Paz used to recommend avoiding contact with government officials when doing fieldwork, recent developments in the field have made it difficult to avoid LGUs and their officials since these connections may either be required by the University or these officials have now become important representatives of the community such as IP representatives. Furthermore, the definition of the key informant has also expanded from being the informant itself that provides the crucial information on a topic to an informant that directs researchers towards other key informants that are more knowledgeable on the researcher’s chosen topic.
• We must now begin to consider how we use technology including what equipment, software, or storage system to use so that data collected from the field becomes available to future researchers and the community.
• We must be aware that the benefits of fieldwork are no longer limited to scholarship on language and other disciplines. There are now many projects in the Department that are collaborative with communities and aim at addressing their needs such as the Ayta Mag-Antsi grammar, the MIMAROPA orthographies, and the Bugkalot-Egongot documentation spearheaded by Asst. Prof. Ria Rafael, Assoc. Prof. Maria Kristina Gallego, and Instr. John Michael De Pano.

At the end of the lecture, Assoc. Prof. Javier points out that it has already been 20 years since the publication of Gabay sa Fildwurk and now the needs of a fieldwork have expaned. His and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion’s lecture and ammendements are a response to Paz’s challenge for researchers to share their fieldwork experiences. Finally, both make the reminder that in any fieldwork, the researcher is not only responsible to their own agenda but also to the community who have helped their project and shared their knowledge.

The lecture finally ends with Assoc. Prof. Javier and Teaching Assoc. Asuncion thanking the Manticaonon, the LGU of Manticao, Pagawan Elementary School, the 2024 Lingg 225 class, the 2024 Anthropology Field School, and the UP Department of Linguistics. Following this, there was a lively question and answer portion with one of the members of the Lingg 225 class, John Francis Rizada sharing his experiences, 2024 Anthropology Field School director Assoc. Prof. Madilene Landicho highlighting certain anecdotes from the field class, and other members of the audience who wanted to learn more about fieldwork as students of the 2025 Lingg 125 and 225 classes.

This sixth installment of PILLS 2025 was moderated by Asst. Prof. Vincent Christopher Santiago. The next installment of PILLS 2025 was on Sambal Ayta [sbl]. The next lecture by Asst. Prof. Jay-Ar Igno entitled “From Sambal Ayta to Tagalog Quezon: Folk Healing Traditions” was held on 28 August 2025 (Thursday), 1:00 PM at the Pilar Herrera Hall. Stay tuned for even more upcoming events from the Department!