Electricity: A Dumagat tribe’s long-awaited dream

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MANILA, Philippines — Before they can use a computer, children in Sitio Manggahan, an upland settlement in Barangay Daraitan, Tanay, Rizal, must first endure at least a one-hour walk that includes crossing a river.

While gadgets are just a tap away in the metro, life here tells a different story.

In this remote community – home to the Dumagat-Remontado, indigenous people (IP) of the Sierra Madre mountains in Luzon – children have grown up without electricity, never knowing what it feels like to live with steady light or the comfort an electric fan brings.

At an early age, they have come to understand that darkness is not simply what comes after sunset, but something that quietly defines their everyday lives.

For 38-year-old Amor Adornado, her three children – two in high school and one in college – are already used to the long walk just to do schoolwork.

“Especially my Grade 11 child, who already needs to do research. They go down, walk and even pass through the river,” she told The STAR.

There is another route, though it requires an even longer walk that can take around two hours.

To get to Daraitan proper faster, residents can also ride a motorcycle. The problem is, not everyone has access to one.

“One of my children is already in college, and I don’t even know if he knows how to use a computer,” Adornado shared.

It takes at least an hour by motorcycle from Tanay town proper to Barangay Daraitan, followed by another 30 minutes on a rough, uphill road to Sitio Manggahan.

At night, the journey gets even harder, with steep cliffs along the way that require extra caution.

If it is already challenging for those on motorcycles, how much more for students who have nothing but a dream?

‘Education falling behind’

Although there is a school in Sitio Manggahan, it caters only to kindergarten and elementary students.

The Magata-Manggahan Elementary School, the community’s only learning institution, relies on solar panels donated by private groups to power part of its operations.

Adornado, who works as utility staff at the school, said the solar panels mostly power only the lights. The school can sometimes use two electric fans, but only for a short time.

“In reality, by noon only a few students were in class, and many were already at the river, swimming,” Adornado recalled.

While extreme heat becomes the main challenge during the summer months, the rainy season brings a different struggle. Solar panels barely work with little to no sunlight, making classrooms even darker.

Liling Astoveza, 52, admits that students in Sitio Manggahan are falling behind, especially when compared to those who have steady access to electricity.

“Their education is lacking because there is no electricity. They are really left behind because they have nothing to use to properly study what they need to learn,” he said.

Based on barangay data, Sitio Manggahan has more than 200 households. Its population is estimated at around 1,000, including children.

Despite the community’s growing population, only a few are able to reach high school, and even fewer make it to college.

Still, Astoveza holds on to a quiet hope that one day, children in their community will be able to study at night with light. It is a long-awaited dream he wishes to see fulfilled in his lifetime.

Protected areas

The entire municipality of Tanay falls within the congressional franchise of power utility giant Manila Electric Co. In principle, this places the responsibility of providing electricity in the area on Meralco.

However, several barangays in Tanay have been certified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as part of a protected area. This limits the power utility’s ability to extend conventional electricity distribution infrastructure into these locations.

“Under existing DENR regulations, additional construction within protected areas is generally prohibited,” Meralco executive vice president and COO Ronnie Aperocho told The STAR.

“As a result, Meralco is unable to install traditional distribution facilities such as poles, wires and transformers or set up microgrids in these locations. Moreover, residency within these zones is limited to households recognized by the DENR as tenured.”

According to latest company data, approximately 1,750 households across several barangays in Tanay still have no access to electricity.

Of the total, 458 homes are already covered by Meralco’s distribution network, with construction targeted for completion by the end of April and partial energization expected to begin this month.

“This phased energization approach will enable households to immediately benefit from electricity services while longer-term solutions are pursued,” Aperocho said.

Meanwhile, 535 households remain without electricity due to their location, right-of-way issues and pending technical and documentary requirements. The remaining 757 households are in areas with significant access challenges.

In Sitio Manggahan, permitting issues and environmental clearances have also long stood in the way of IPs seeking electrification.

“The reason given to us is that it is covered by a protected area of the DENR and, at the same time, it is within the ancestral domain of IPs,” said Eufemia Enciso, Dumagat-Remontado tribal chieftain in Sitio Manggahan.

“We, the indigenous people here, also long for a brighter life,” Enciso added.

A glimmer of hope

For a community long forgotten in the dark, even the smallest source of light brings a glimmer of hope that one day, it will no longer be temporary.

Some families turn to solar power and batteries just to light their homes for a few hours, hoping their children can, however short, experience what many in the city take for granted. A few others rely on generators when they can afford to run them.

But in a sitio that depends mostly on root crop farming, electricity remains a luxury for most families.

A small car battery, according to residents, can cost around P4,000, while larger ones range from P7,000 to P10,000. Solar panels, meanwhile, start at around P1,500 each.

With most households unable to afford these, they instead rely on gasera or improvised kerosene lamps.

“Electricity is really what we are waiting for. That is truly the best way to help the people living here,” barangay councilor Efren Dela Cruz remarked.

To somehow light up the community, the barangay initiated the rollout of solar streetlights. But only a few have been installed due to the limited budget.

In particular, only around P45,000 was allocated for the rollout. With each streetlight costing about P4,500, only 10 units could be installed under the budget. These solar streetlights were then divided among the different sitios in the barangay.

“The streetlights here, you can count them on your fingers,” Dela Cruz stressed.

For the residents, this situation is very unfortunate. An entire barangay has to work with only P45,000, while some politicians drown in billions of pesos in flood control funds.

Imagine how a fraction of a congressman’s project funds could already have powered an entire sitio.

“My appeal to our national government is that I hope electricity can finally reach us,” the barangay official lamented. “I hope we are seen and embraced.”

As of June 2025, at least five in every 100 households nationwide still had no access to electricity, with most of them located in Mindanao, according to the Department of Energy.

DOE data show that the electrification rate in Mindanao lagged at 83.45 percent, well below the 98.84 percent for Luzon and 95.23 percent for the Visayas.

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin has estimated that about P70 billion in funding is needed to power every Filipino home before President Marcos ends his term in 2028.

No power, no health care

For many who enjoy lights in every corner of their homes, the government’s electrification goal is just a target on paper. In places where electricity is still out of reach, it remains a promise they continue to hold on to.

In Sitio Manggahan, that absence of reliable power extends beyond daily life, as it also affects something far more critical: access to proper health care.

Although the community has a health center, residents said it is largely non-functional due to the lack of electricity.

Enciso, the tribal chieftain, shared that residents with asthma are unable to use nebulizers in the health center. At times, they look for ways to plug into households with generators just to make the machines work.

In worse cases, when no generator is available, they have no choice but to go down to Daraitan proper just to use the nebulizer.

“Sometimes, if you do not have money for transportation, you really have to walk while carrying the patient,” echoed Astoveza.

Enciso, meanwhile, has renewed her call for the government to support their community and provide the assistance needed to make it more livable.

“It is also our right to benefit because we are also Filipinos. It just so happened that we are in a remote area; we also need development,” she said, holding back tears.

Solar home systems

In view of the constraints in putting up a distribution network in protected areas, Meralco plans to deploy solar home systems as an alternative solution.

“In close coordination with the DENR, the Tanay local government and the Protected Area Management Board, Meralco is currently addressing the challenges and preparing the requirements for DENR permits and clearances for these deployments,” Meralco’s Aperocho said.

The company also reiterated its commitment to working closely with regulators and community partners to advance electrification, especially in remote and environmentally protected areas.

On Cagbalete Island in Quezon province, for instance, Meralco has rolled out a microgrid project, which is expected to provide electricity to over 1,000 homes, businesses and essential facilities upon completion.

For areas served by electric cooperatives, meanwhile, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) is focused on expanding power access to unenergized sitios, small rural communities or clusters that remain unconnected to the grid.

The household electrification rate within the franchise areas of power cooperatives stood at 91.51 percent as of end-December 2025, according to NEA data provided to The STAR.

This leaves around 1.5 million households in rural areas still without electricity.

“The implementation of the REP (rural electrification program) continues to face challenges, particularly due to the remote and rural nature of target areas,” NEA pointed out.

These obstacles include weather-related disruptions; peace and order issues; delays in the delivery of materials from overseas manufacturers; and budgetary constraints.

Despite these challenges, NEA remains confident that it can achieve 100 percent household electrification by 2028. For this year alone, the agency aims to connect an additional 500,000 homes.

For now, nights stay long and dark in Sitio Manggahan. And as they have done for years, residents continue to wait until electricity finally reaches them.

For others, electricity is just a commodity paid for every month. But for Sitio Manggahan and millions of unenergized homes across the country, it is a dream that remains a distant reality.