Research

As the national university, we champion and support innovative research that addresses the country’s most pressing challenges.

03 Mar 2026

Indigenous myths are closely connected to the lived experiences and ongoing struggle of the Lumad for self-determination

Myths that involve sacred spaces largely make up local knowledge among Indigenous Peoples across continents. Often, these myths are dismissed...

Read More

02 Mar 2026

Study uses machine learning to predict whether a patient is intoxicated due to pesticide exposure

In response to a growing human population, greater attempts to correspondingly increase agricultural production become necessary. To boost crop production,...

Read More

27 Feb 2026

Researchers use ChatGPT in their writing mainly out of trust in the technology than perceived usefulness

ChatGPT has attracted the attention of the scientific community. Unlike existing writing tools that are conventionally capable of checking styles,...

Read More

26 Feb 2026

Croplands in Tarlac have been reduced due to their conversion into farms for solar power plants

Clean energy, such as solar power, is an important solution for reducing carbon emissions and ensuring a stable energy supply....

Read More

25 Feb 2026

Films function as visual records of national violence and their inclusion in cinematic archives is crucial to preserve historical memory

This research revisits the discourses surrounding films about the regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. It proposes the employment...

Read More

24 Feb 2026

Scientists develop a model that shows how heat moves during femtosecond pulsed laser ablation

Imagine a laser so fast, it can zap tiny bits of metal in the blink of an eye. This process,...

Read More

23 Feb 2026

Density is not only experienced by residents but also actively produced through their discursive and material practices

While there is a long and varied history of research on urban density, there is little work examining how
high-density urbanism...

Read More

20 Feb 2026

Nine plant species in the beach forest of Hijo in Davao del Norte are considered threatened

Philippine flora, noted for its high levels of endemism, is increasingly threatened by deforestation, climate change, illegal logging, and infrastructure...

Read More

19 Feb 2026

ASEAN would benefit from a shared regulatory framework for business competition, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence

Big tech companies are facing more and more scrutiny over their business practices, especially in the US and Europe, where...

Read More

18 Feb 2026

A comprehensive approach to landfill management is essential to enhancing urban resilience in the context of climate change

In 2050, the global waste levels are expected to rise by 69% from 2016 levels, reaching 3.4 billion tons. Unfortunately,...

Read More

16 Feb 2026

New mechanical cacao bean huller achieves high-efficiency separation with high-purity nib output

Cacao beans are the key ingredients in making chocolate, and their quality and processing efficiency greatly affect the taste and...

Read More

11 Feb 2026

Lalani of the Distant Sea creates an independent Philippine-inspired fantasy world that transcends national boundaries

Lalani of the Distant Sea, a middle-grade fantasy novel by Newbery Medal–winning Filipino American author Erin Entrada Kelly, illustrates how...

Read More

Research

Myths that involve sacred spaces largely make up local knowledge among Indigenous Peoples across continents. Often, these myths are dismissed as “folk beliefs,” which are commonly associated with primitivism and backwardness. They are deemed as the opposite of scientific and historical knowledge of one’s environment and society. This study shows that myths and sacred spaces function as modes of story and history-telling among the Lumad Manobo, which reflect their collective values of self-reliance, sustainability, and aspirations to food security and food sovereignty.

As part of indigenous knowledge, sacred spaces are understood through lived experience and relationships, as seen in the Lumad-Manobo concepts of pamalihi and bunayan. Pamalihi refers to spaces considered forbidden, special, and highly valued. Bunayan refers to the harmful or disastrous consequences that befall those who violate the rules associated with these spaces. In this way, the sacred is experienced as a shared understanding of which places are protected and why, along with the serious consequences of breaking communal rules. Sacred spaces, therefore, embody value, prohibition, and danger at the same time. This shows that indigenous myths are intertwined with the embodied and lived histories of the Lumad struggle for self-determination.

This study shows how the national struggle for sovereignty is inextricably linked to indigenous knowledge and the Indigenous Peoples’ fight for self-determination in two ways.

First, it challenges the dominant discourse of capitalist developmentalism, which reduces indigenous myths and other modalities of indigenous knowledge to being primitive and backward. It does so by demonstrating that indigenous myths are lived experiences and historical accounts of Indigenous Peoples’ quest for a sustainable engagement with their environment, as well as the actual struggles that shape this aspiration.

Second, against the fragmentary logic of localism, this study challenges the false dichotomy between the indigenous struggle for self-determination and the struggle for national liberation by demonstrating how these two instances of peoples’ struggle are interconnected in the Lumad-Manobo way of life, particularly in their indigenous knowledge of myths and sacred spaces.

Author: Sarah Raymundo (Center for International Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/22779760241252304