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Spatio-temporal migration patterns to and from an upland village of
Mindanao, Philippines
Article in Population and Environment · December 2014
DOI: 10.1007/s11111-014-0213-4
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ORI GIN AL PA PER
Spatio-temporal migration patternsto and from an upland village of Mindanao, Philippines
F. Mialhe • P. Walpole • E. Bruno • N. Dendoncker •
L. Richelle • S. Henry
� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract Movement of groups of people is closely linked to environmental, agri-
cultural and cultural change. Gaining an understanding of these changes in a local
context is a vital prelude to the construction of a viable predictive model. We carried
out a study in the Philippines to better understand the association between migration
and these types of changes at a village scale and to build a picture of how the asso-
ciations changed in time and space. The study area was located in the uplands of
Mindanao. Migration to the village began in the late 1970s. As of 2010, the population
is made up of indigenous people (*57 %), people who migrated from elsewhere in the
Philippines (*29 %), and descendants of indigenous/non indigenous parents
(*14 %). Face-to-face interviews in the village and in the places of origin/destination
were used to collect qualitative information on the migrations made by the current and
past village inhabitants. The main results relate to the reasons for migration, the socio-
environmental processes that induced the decision to move and the description and
explanation of more recent moves. The local findings are discussed in the context of
existing published models of migration in frontier areas.
Keywords Frontier migration � Mindanao � Bohol � Uplands � Indigenous peoples
F. Mialhe � N. Dendoncker � L. Richelle � S. Henry
Department of Geography, University of Namur, 61 rue de Bruxelles, Namur, Belgium
F. Mialhe (&)
Department of Geography, University of Lyon 2 Lumiere, UMR 5600 EVS, Lyon, France
e-mail: [email protected]
P. Walpole � E. Bruno
Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC), Ateneo de Manila University, Manila
Observatory Bldg., Quezon City, Philippines
123
Popul Environ
DOI 10.1007/s11111-014-0213-4
Introduction
Migration toward forest frontier areas is of substantial interest because of associated
land use changes and, in particular, impacts on forest cover. Prior research on
frontier migration has examined determinants, implications and variations across
settings (Barbieri et al. 2006, 2009; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). The research
presented here extends this existing knowledge with an analysis of the patterns and
causes of migration in a specific space–time context, i.e., a village (Bendum) in the
uplands of Mindanao (Philippines) after World War II and by contrasting the results
with current population-environment theories and models. The patterns and causal
connections were inferred from information provided by interview respondents
when explaining their migration to and from the village since its establishment in
the 1970s, with a focus on the social, cultural, environmental and political processes
shaping migration. Comparisons between different ethnic (i.e., indigenous or
immigrant) and age groups provided useful insight into the importance of culture
and context with migration decision-making in this little-studied region.
Background
A number of studies have found frontier migrants to be mostly internal movers
(VanWey et al. 2012), and research has found that migrant flows are shaped by the
frontier’s age, the period of settlement (or contextual factors) and access to natural
resources (Amacher et al. 1998; Barbieri et al. 2009; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013;
Carr et al. 2006). In many rural regions across the globe, the opening of forest by
logging or oil companies has paved the way for settlement and agriculture by
making isolated patches of old growth forest more easily accessible (Barbieri et al.
2006). However, decline in crop yields due to soil depletion and decline in land
opportunities due to farm extension, both typical of aging frontiers, have generated
new migratory flows—either toward other forest edges or back to the cities (Barbieri
et al. 2006; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). Date of settlement also shapes frontier
migration patterns since contextual factors may trigger, amplify or attenuate flows.
These factors include migration and environmental policies, social instability,
economic inequalities, unequal land distribution, or the availability (or lack) of
government services and infrastructures. These affect the cost of migration, access
to information, migration networks (constitution and functions) and access to land
(Barbieri et al. 2009). Poverty, for example, has driven migrants from the
Ecuadorian sierras to the Amazonian forest frontier (Barbieri et al. 2006).
Frontier migrants have many motivations, including the prospect of land
ownership, although the process of ownership in frontiers is often lengthy and
uncertain (Southgate 1990; Amacher et al. 1998; VanWey et al. 2012). Agricultural
labor-saving technology, e.g., use of herbicides or hand-tractors, has also fostered
migration toward frontiers on some occasions (as discussed for Sulawesi by Ruf
2001). In addition, forest decline through migration has also been linked to
proximate causes such as urbanization’s impact on increasing preference for meat
diets (DeFries et al. 2006; Lopez-Carr and Burgdorfer 2013).
Popul Environ
123
Another proximate cause of frontier migration is the creation of protected areas
(e.g., national parks, sanctuaries) or the devolution of management to locals through
community-based management arrangements. Such changing natural resource
management structures contribute to changes in migration patterns (Barbieri et al.
2006; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). As an example, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, frontier
‘closure’ reduced in-migration and favored the intensification of agriculture because
expansion into new frontier areas was no longer possible (Barbieri et al. 2006).
On the implications of frontier migration, in the absence of soil conservation, soil
degradation is often observed (e.g., loss of microbial biomass, organic carbon and
nitrogen), which likely leads to a reduction in land productivity (Islam and Weil
2000). The subsequent decline in production and—as a consequence—rent can
trigger social impacts such as the out-migration of first- or second-generation
settlers. Challenges also often arise when indigenous peoples already live in the area
to be colonized (Rindfuss et al. 2007), inducing a risk of acculturation and/or
cultural conflicts. As an example, socio-technical changes borne by migrants can be
environmentally detrimental since the indigenous farming practices often have
relatively lower forest cover impacts (Lu et al. 2010).
Frontier migration can also be supported or encouraged by government
(Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013; Pichon 1997). In Ivory Coast, for example, the first
post-independence government encouraged migration toward forest to plant cocoa
with the motto ‘The land belongs to those who develop it.’ Substantial clearing of
primary forest was consequently recorded (Ruf 2001). Of course, governments may
support frontier migration for other reasons including decreasing land pressure in
densely populated areas (Wernstedt and Simkins 1965), shifting religious balance
(Tigno 2006), or affirming sovereignty (VanWey et al. 2012).
Several explanatory models of frontier migration have been proposed such as the
‘property lifecycle model’ in which farm failures are related to the length of
occupation of a parcel of land and predict a subsequent out-migration of first- or
second-generation migrants (Aldrich et al. 2012; Barbieri et al. 2009; Caviglia-
Harris et al. 2013). A second is the ‘Brazilian model’ which, simply stated, ‘begins
with clearing by small farmers, followed by soil depletion and plot abandonment (or
sale) to large cattle ranchers’ (Barbieri et al. 2006; Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013).
Other published models represent adaptations of existing frameworks to the frontier
context such as the ‘Chayanov household lifecycle model’ (Barbieri et al. 2009;
Pichon 1997), the ‘new economics of labor migration’ (Stark and Bloom 1985), or
the multiphasic modified model (Aldrich et al. 2012; Bilsborrow and Ogendo 1992;
Carr et al. 2009).
A limitation of current frontier migration models is that most are based on social-
environmental patterns within the Amazon basin (Carr 2004; De Sherbinin et al.
2008). Moreover, research has not often examined migration from a systemic
perspective, which considers the nested scales of space and time at which the push
and pull factors of migration operate. By assessing the population of a migration
frontier area in Southeast Asia using a migration systems perspective, this paper
begins to fill these gaps. We examine the association between migration in the rural
Philippines and environmental, agrarian and cultural changes based on data
collected from places of both departure and arrival over the 1970–2010 period.
Popul Environ
123
Study area
General background
At the end of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines (i.e., 1898), population
density on the island of Mindanao (*100,000 km2) was about 5 inhabitants per sq.
km (Wernstedt and Simkins 1965). It reached 221 per sq. km in 2010 (National
Statistics Office 2010) and in-migration has been instrumental to that population
growth. Typically, migrants were jobless and landless because of the limitations of
agrarian reforms and the economic policies that favored capital and energy-
intensive activities over labor and agriculture intensification (Amacher et al. 1998).
The national government promoted migration from densely populated areas–some
of which were centers of an anti-government insurgency–toward less populated
areas such as Mindanao.
Government-led migration policies in Mindanao failed in relative terms because
voluntary migrants outnumbered program-led migrants (Wernstedt and Simkins
1965; Rola and Coxhead 2002). Many settled in the uplands due to a lack of job/
land opportunities in the lowlands in addition to easier land tenure, newly logged
lands, and also the lack of enforcement of forest protection, which facilitated illegal
homesteading (Amacher et al. 1998). Between 1948 and 1988, the upland
population of the Northern Mindanao region increased from 380,000 to 1,675,000
(Cruz et al. 1988).
Migrants first undertook destructive shifting cultivation with short fallow periods,
but eventually moved to permanent agriculture. Some also learned from, and
adapted to, the local context by collecting forest products (rattan, timber, birds,
orchids, resin from the almaciga tree: Agathis philippinensis) as a secondary source
of income (Lacuna-Richman 2006; Siebert 1984).
Social ties fueled additional migration as initial migrants were joined by relatives
and friends (Cruz et al. 1988; Lacuna-Richman 2006). In all, deforestation,
essentially due to logging after World War II (Lasco et al. 2001), and regional
population growth due to migration impacted indigenous cultures and peoples,
particularly through processes of detribalization and marginalization (Eder 1990).
Bendum area
This study area is located in the Upper Pulangi watershed, Bukidnon Province,
Mindanao (Philippines) (Fig. 1). Since 1984, the study village, Bendum, is a sitio1
of barangay Busdi (Malaybalay City). Within the Koppen climate classification
(Peel et al. 2007), the climate is considered tropical rain forest—‘Af’ type—with a
rainfall of approximately 2,510 mm annually (Malaybalay City weather station)
(Walpole 2002).
1 The Philippines is divided into, from the highest division to the lowest: ‘regions’, ‘provinces’,
‘municipalities’, ‘barangays’. Sitios and puroks are communities that are not recognized as a Local
Government Unit (LGU).
Popul Environ
123
The Bendum area can be roughly divided into three distinct topographic zones: a
cliff-like portion with slope over 50 % (550 m above sea level—masl—to
740 masl), a rolling to hilly area with slope between 18 and 35 % (±740 masl)
and the western slope of the Pantaron mountain range which peaks at 1,450 masl
(Fig. 2). The first zone is partially forested and partially dedicated to farming. The
second is the main farming and settlement area, while tropical moist forest and
mossy forests cover the Pantaron mountain slopes. Although logging reached
Bendum in the 1970s (Walpole 2002), an area around Bendum of almost 3,000 ha
has remained forested since the 1989 national logging ban (Lawrence 1995).
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of Bendum can be
broadly classified into 3 groups: (1) indigenous populations (referred to locally as
‘lumad’), (2) migrant populations (referred to as ‘dumagat’ (‘coming from the sea’)
and (3) descendants of lumad/dumagat parents.
Before permanent settlement, Bendum was an area where indigenous people
temporarily settled to engage in hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation with long
fallow periods. This semi-nomadic lifestyle was characterized by frequent, circular
moves, and mobility was inseparable from identity (McDowell and de Haan 1997).
Today, indigenous people still maintain a distinct way of life and identity, a
combination of distinct language, religion, livelihood sources and practices, arts,
music among other cultural behaviors and traits. Mainstream Philippine society, on
the other hand, has been highly influenced by Arab missionaries, as well as Spanish
and American colonization.
Lumad is a collective term referring to the indigenous peoples of Mindanao that
have not adopted Islam. Originally, some lumads were living nearby the northern
coast of Mindanao, but progressively they have moved inland because of wars and
125°0'0"E120°0'0"E
15°0'0"N
10°0'0"N
5°0'0"N
0 4 82 Kilometers0 25 5012,5 Kilometers
Tagbilaran
Batuan
Talibon
Baclayon
Cagayan de Oro
Malaybalay
Maramag
Butuan
Philippines
Luzon island
Visayas
Mindanao
Valencia
Pangantokan
Bendum
BOHOL
Bohol Sea
Cagayan de Oro
Bulonay
Busdi
Kulaman St Peter
Caburacanan
Mapolo
Bendum
Bohol sea
Pulangi River
Upper Pulangi watershed
Cities/townsElevation (meters)
2000
250
1250
NN
Fig. 1 Study area (source of shaded relief: SRTM)
Popul Environ
123
the increasing influence of colonizers (e.g., Spaniards, Americans, Japanese)
(APCEC 2009). Dumagat, from the root word ‘dagat’ which means the sea, is a
collective term used by indigenous peoples in Northern Mindanao referring to the
lowland migrant settlers. Both dumagats and lumads share the trait of being pre-
hispanic and belong to Austronesian groups whose prehistoric migration patterns in
island Southeast Asia are still hotly debated (Tabbada et al. 2010). A local census
from 2010 tallied 59 households in the village with 330 individuals (Aclub 2010).
Of these, 57 % classified themselves as lumad, 29 % as dumagat and 14 % as
descendants of lumad/dumagat parents.
Economically, the most important activity in the region is farming (farmers and
farm laborers) with systems characterized by either shifting cultivation with short
fallow periods or permanent agriculture. Cultivated plants include corn, rubber,
coffee, abaca (Musa textilis) and root crops (sweet potato, cassava, ginger and taro).
Other significant economic activities include produce sales, abaca weaving,
teaching and transportation (goods and persons) with motorcycles.
Also important, Bendum is located within an area of conflict between the regular
Philippine Army (AFP) and the rebels of the New People Army (NPA). The NPA is
the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) created in 1969.
The conflict has provoked occasional intrusions of both groups into the village and
the NPA regularly attempts to recruit village youth. Several violent incidents have
occurred within close proximity to the village since the 1990s.
Bohol area
The second study area is located in Bohol Island, which belongs to the Visayan
island group of the Philippine archipelago (Fig. 1). Bohol Island is *4,800 km2
570 m
730 m
D
C
B
A
N
1 kilometer
Main farmland
Tropical moist forest
D
A
BC Scattered farms on hilly/steep land
Riceland
Bendum
Elevation (m)
Fig. 2 3D view of Bendum and its surroundings (source: GoogleEarth)
Popul Environ
123
with a population of *1.2 million in 2007 (NSO 2013). A high rate of out-
migration has occurred in Bohol for several decades. By 1960, 16.6 % of island
residents in 1950 had migrated elsewhere in the Philippines (Adem 1982). Out-
migration was somewhat counter-balanced by return migration in the 1970s, when
migrants came back from Mindanao due to conflicts between the army and Muslim
rebels (Acejo et al. 2004). Yet in recent times, high levels of out-migration have
again occurred due to several factors including the unequal distribution of land,
agronomic constraints due to soil quality, the limited size and growth potential of
the provincial capital and warfare between the army and leftist rebels (Adem 1982;
Urich 2003; Acejo et al. 2004).
We conducted research in the three primary origin municipalities for migrants in
Bendum. Two of these (Bilar and Batuan) are located in the hinterland, and the third
(Talibon) is in the coastal area. Today, livelihoods in the region are predominantly
natural resource based including agriculture in Bilar and Batuan and fishing in
Talibon. Hilly and mountainous areas, i.e., with slope angles in excess of 20�, cover
*50 % of the Batuan and *30 % of the Bilar municipalities. Together with the
development of protected areas (Rajah Sikatuna National Park, Loboc Watershed,
Chocolate Hills Monument Park), this drastically restricts the potential of
agricultural expansion.
Method
Fieldwork
For more than a decade, a group of researchers including some of the current
authors (E. Bruno and P. Walpole) have been carrying out ethnographic and
participatory studies on the culture, ecology, genealogy and history of Bendum.
Two additional field trips focused on the study of migration dynamics to and from
Bendum: the first from December 2011 to January 2012 in Mindanao and the second
from August to December 2012 in Bohol. These data constitute this manuscript’s
primary source.
Data collection and analysis
Life histories were gathered through in-depth face-to-face interviews. This enabled
the collection of longitudinal information on current and former Bendum residents
(Table 1). Former Bendum residents were met in their new living quarters either in
Bohol or in the surrounding villages. During interviews, a schematic timeline
representing a person’s lifetime was used to aid the respondent in recalling events
and the reasons behind transitions. Household sampling in Bendum was based on a
non-probability method with the assistance of local key informants. We aimed for
variation by original place of residence, cultural group, family and age. In total,
almost two-thirds of Bendum households were interviewed, while more than thirty
interviews were conducted with former residents (hereafter referred to as ‘out-
Popul Environ
123
migrants’). Interviews were conducted in either of the local languages—Visayan or
Binukid—with the help of local research assistants.
By engaging this qualitative method, we aimed to collect novel information about
the rationale behind migration, expanding what is already well covered in
quantitative-based research. Reasons for migration were qualified as ‘push’ factors
when referring to the place of origin, or ‘pull’ factors when referring to destination
(Tables 2, 3).
A ‘typology of moves’ was also established by combining several criteria
including primary migration reasons, migration characteristics in space–time, and as
related to lifecycle stage, and personal/household socioeconomic profiles.
A local definition of internal migration
The barangays in the Upper Pulangi watershed are large (e.g., *60 km2 for Busdi)
and include several (agro-) ecosystems ranging from agricultural lowlands to
forested highlands. As such, relocation within a barangay can involve a substantial
livelihood change as well as important shifts in various qualities of land assets
(among other aspects) due to different geographical and environmental features
(e.g., soil, slope, accessibility, forest). As a result, although much migration research
defines internal migration as crossing a sub-national administrative boundary, we
define a migration as a move from one settlement to another in the frontier area—
regardless of administrative crossing.
Another important distinction required separate consideration of the nature of
moves made by lumad and dumagat individuals. For lumads, relocation was
typically motivated by livelihood maintenance—we consider these ‘moves.’ For
dumagats, however, relocation was generally associated with a relatively radical
shift in livelihood—we consider these ‘migrations.’
Results
The results are presented in successive stages. First, a quantitative geographical
assessment of population flows is used to define migratory patterns. Then, two
separate typologies of moves and migrations for lumads and dumagats are
Table 1 List of variables collected during interviews
Variable Details
Geographical Place of origin and place of destination of the lifetime’s moves
Cultural group Lumads, dumagats, lumad/dumagat offspring
Livelihood Portfolio of activities
Tenure, land size, crops (for farmers)
Household characteristics Size, composition, age, gender, cultural group
Reasons to migrate Left open
Characteristics of migration Date, number of people involved in the migration
Popul Environ
123
Table 2 Reasons of the moves made by lumad households to/from Bendum
Categories of reasons Reasons (specific location, push/pull)
Move in
Sociocultural Chaotic environment because of the presence of logging and migrants (push)a
Guarding/protecting ritual site from logging (pull)
Desire of the elders to see the lumads settle in Bendum (pull)
Join a relative (pull)
Environmental Chaotic environment because of the presence of logging and migrants (push)a
Environmental quality of Bendum, i.e., the thick forest (pull)
Conflicts Conflicts with some community members about a crime (push)
Family conflicts (push)
Farming Low production of corn and coffee (push)
Small farm (push)
Willingness to end up the traditional shifting cultivation (push)
Good place to farm, in particular coffee (pull)
Close to market (pull)
Availability of land (pull)
Distribution of land by the captain barangayb (pull)
To plant upland rice on newly open lands (pull)
Difficulty to access the farms due to the high flow of the river
Public services Presence of the school (pull)
Household lifecycle Join the wife (pull)
Return move
Farming Because the farmland is in Bendum (pull)
Cultural Because of rumors about the reasons of the move
Move out
Conflicts Fear of NPA because involved in CAFGUc (push)
Move after a killing and fear of reprisals (push)
Intra-familial conflict (push)
Livelihood To work with logging companies (pull)
To work (in urban area) (pull)
Because of lack of daily work (push)
To work in a plantation with regular wages (pull)
To work in a petrol station (pull)
Household lifecycle Move to join the family of husband (pull)
Farming Low yields (push)
Lack of finances to afford for fertilizer (push)
a Because of the description given by the respondent, this reason can be considered as environmental or
socioculturalb Captain barangays are the elected political chief of the barangay administrative unit, which is the
smallest unit in the Philippines administrationc NPA for New People Army, the armed branch of the Communist Party of Philippines and CAFGU for
Civilian Armed Forced Geographical Unit, an irregular auxiliary force of the Armed Forced of the
Philippines (AFP)
Popul Environ
123
Table 3 Reasons of the moves made by the dumagat households to/from Bendum
Categories of given
reasons
Reasons (specific location, push/pull)
Move in
Farming Available land to buy (pull)
Land given by a relative (pull)
Good land/soil for coffee and corn (pull)
Cheap land available (pull)
Offer to work on the farm of relative/friend (pull)
Bad/rocky soil (Bohol, Bukidnon) (push)
Small farm (Bohol, Bukidnon) (push)
Rolling land (Bukidnon) (push)
No land to till (Bohol) push)
Shareholder status (Bohol, Bukidnon) (push)
Lack of rains (Bukidnon) (push)
To have land to give in inheritance (pull)
Household lifecycle To join the husband/wife or the son (pull)
Because a relative lives there (pull)
Livelihoods Harsh situation because of the difficulty to sell products (Bohol) (push)
Conflict Conflict with land owner, relative (cousin, stepmother) (Bohol) (push)
Environment Cool and relax place (pull)
Public services Because of the presence of the school
Return move
Livelihood High price of life (push)
Presence of relative (pull)
Move out
Geographical context Far from the markets (push)
Rural context (push)
Cold climate (push)
Farming Discouraged by the reduce growth of corn (push)
Discouraged by the difficulty to haul products from remote and steep farms
(push)
Destruction of crops by wild pigs (push)
Discouraged by the transportation time/cost of the production to the market
places (push)
No land to buy (push)
Not able to afford the fertilizers (push)
Public services Because the school was not accredited by Department of Education (push)
Because it was long/dangerous to go to High School (push)
To school in Bohol (pull)
Household lifecycle Because of a separation (push)
To join other child (pull)
Popul Environ
123
elaborated and interpreted. The processes behind moves and migrations are
subsequently presented for three geographical units (Pulangi, Bohol and Bendum).
We conclude with the results section, which emphasizes determinants of both moves
and migrations from both individual and household perspectives.
Move and migration patterns
Figure 3 provides an overview of the periods during which lumad and dumagat
respondents’ households arrived in Bendum. Lumads arrived first in the late-1970s
and dumagats in the mid-1980s. Lumad households tend to be larger; dumagats tend
to migrate as individuals or young couples with no or few children. The total
number of arrivals decreased after a peak reached in 1980–1984 and 1990–1994,
respectively, for lumads and dumagats.
Figure 4 indicates the origin barangays of lumad respondents before their arrival
in Bendum. All locations are situated within the Upper Pulangi watershed, and most
are less than 10 km from Bendum. Many households came from places today
located in the Busdi barangay, to the west, because households of Busdi commonly
farmed some plots located in Bendum area. Moving to Bendum was then a rational
option.
The second most frequent direction of moves was from the south, ‘upstream,’
approximately following the direction of logging operations. Lumad individuals
Table 3 continued
Categories of given reasons Reasons (specific location, push/pull)
Livelihood Because the main activity is outside Bendum (pull)
To work in services sector in urban areas (pull)
Hardship conditions of living (push)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
<1980 1980-1984 1985-1989 1990-1994 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009
Nu
mb
er o
f h
ou
seh
old
s
Years
dumagat
lumad
Fig. 3 Number of household who move to Bendum
Popul Environ
123
who moved north did so with the aim of seeking new land for maintaining
traditions. Some other households also came from more distant northern settlements
located in Agusan del Norte where traditions were also strongly held. This
provenance is not a surprise since a genealogical survey conducted in 1995 and
2007 by some of the current authors (Bruno E., Walpole P.) revealed numerous
Fig. 4 Former places of living of lumad households
Popul Environ
123
cases of filiation between individuals of different communities due to common
ancestors.
With regard to dumagats, Fig. 5 exhibits their origins prior to arrival in Bendum.
The origins are located either within the Pulangi river’s watershed or in Bohol.
Interviews revealed that many migrants reached Bendum directly from their
hometowns. Those that arrived from within the watershed came from a limited
number of places, indicating strong locational preferences potentially related to the
location of logging camps and perhaps environmental amenities (e.g., lowlands and
the possibility of irrigation). As an example, the town of St. Peter, situated at a
crossroads, was initially a logging camp established near a lumad community. St.
Peter was the primary origin of dumagats migrants in Bendum between 1985 and
1994.
D
E
125°0'0"E120°0'0"E
15°0'0"N
10°0'0"N
0 5 102,5 Kilometers
0 20 4010Kilometers
0 10 205Kilometers
0 30 6015Kilometers
1:7.000.000
Visayas
Luzon
Mindanao
Sulu sea
0 25 5012,5Kilometers
C
B
C
B
D
BendumBusdi
KulamanSt Peter
Zamboangita
Silae
Lantapan
Quezon
Maramag
Batuan
Baclayon
Cagayan de Oro
Tagaytay
E
A
E
D
A
C
Before 1980
1980-1984
1985-1989
1990-1994
1995-1999
2000-2005
After 2005
Time periods
Number of Household
1 2 3-5 5+
Fig. 5 Former places of living of dumagat households
Popul Environ
123
We were also interested in generating a typology of migration and did so as
representing the most common lifetime migration patterns of dumagats (Fig. 6).
Due to incomplete information, we did not attempt to elaborate lifetime patterns of
lumad moves. We aggregated dumagat residential locations into the following
categories: rural Visayas (including Bohol), urban areas (including Manila, Cebu
City, Cagayan de Oro and Malaybalay City), rural Mindanao, and Bendum.
Each pattern comprised movements to or from these categorized places, with
Bendum as the final destination. The sub-types of type-1 and type-2 primary
patterns indicate whether or not households were involved in an earlier move to an
urban area, or to rural Mindanao, before coming back to their hometowns.
Urban moves, toward Manila or Davao City, principally involved younger
dumagats migrating for industry work (e.g., agro-industry) or as short-term house-
helpers. Migration toward rural Mindanao was typically by young men to work as
farm or ranch laborers, often on land of relatives or acquaintances. From there, they
migrated toward more remote upland areas seeking land to work for themselves or
to expand their own landholdings. In that case, migration was thus instrumental in,
and not concurrent with, the strategy of land extension.
A substantial number of return migrations to Bohol reflect strong, long-lasting
connections with origins. Even so, reasons for these permanent or temporary returns
were varied and included labor opportunities on origin-based family farms, labor
contracts ended elsewhere, conflicts in Mindanao, strong family connections or to
settle with a new spouse.
A typology of moves to and from Bendum
For lumads, extended families motivated most movement, which explains why
lumads outnumbered dumagats for much of the study period (Table 4). A wider
variety of motivations characterized migration by dumagats, with migration types
reflecting household characteristics. Farm labor migration was common among
younger individuals both single or recently married. Households at an older life
Fig. 6 Most common patterns of moves of dumagat households
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cycle stage were more likely to migrate to farm their own lands (Table 5). While
many forms of dumagat migration occurred at the same time, farm labor, farming
and post-frontier moves were most common, followed by family reunification.
Processes leading to migration
Within the Upper Pulangi watershed
In the Pulangi watershed, land classification surveys conducted by the government
which aimed to distinguish Alienable & Disposable (hereafter A&D) land from
public, state-owned, timberland began in the 1950s. Only the flatland located on the
right bank of the Pulangi was classified as A&D, and any land not classified as A&D
during this period cannot today be privately owned. To hold a land title in A&D,
farmers were required to follow a costly procedure dealing with several government
agencies. Therefore, only a portion of farmers managed to acquire land titles by
selling a portion of their farmland. Classification as A&D increased the value of
Table 4 Typology of moves made by lumad households
Type Characteristics
Move in
Livelihood moves The most common moves realized by families from the neighboring villages
from the late 1970 and during the 1980s. Most of the reasons are related to
farming (in both places of origin and destination), but include environmental
and cultural (presence of tribal chieftain) considerations
Cultural moves Moves made from the neighboring villages to protect ritual site from the threat
of logging companies in the late 1970s. This induced the incoming of a Datu
(tribal chieftain) whom presence has been a strong attractor for further
arrivals
Lifecycle moves Traditional wedding induce the move of the newly married person in the
household of the spouse
Conflict moves Moves followed land ownership conflicts, crime and familial dispute. They
occurred at any time
Lifestyle and economic
moves
It concerns the households living in remote and forested areas. Households
evoked the desire to send children to school, to be closer of the market, and to
benefit from the coffee production in the early 1980s
Education moves Moves of young from neighboring towns to enroll in the elementary school
began in the 2000s
Move out
Conflict moves Moves followed conflicts and crime
Farming and livelihood
moves
Problems experienced in farming (low yields, absence of daily work for the
landless farmers, high cost of inputs) combined with the dual appeal of
agricultural daily work outside the community (for ‘instant cash’) and non-
farming jobs induced the out-migration, especially of youth and young
couples, from the late 1990s in the neighboring towns, in urban areas
(Mindanao) and also in Bohol. Temporary moves of youth to work in the
poultries and piggeries that are flourishing around Malaybalay also recently
developed
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123
land leading to some land being illegally seized from its proprietors. As a
consequence and under pressure from local political leaders and some dumagat
residents, some lumads became either landless or experienced a reduction of their
farmland which resulted in them moving to more remote and upland areas. Indeed,
enclosure, dispossession and exclusion of land (as has occurred in other places,
Elmhirst 2012) played a significant role in the early movements.
Soil acidification represented another major reason to move, with the acidificat-
ion due to permanent agriculture or shifting cultivation with short fallow. In the
state-owned timber forest, farmers were encouraged to secure a tax declaration for
their farms to gain a degree of security over the use of land. Legislation did not
Table 5 Typology of moves made by dumagat households
Type Characteristics
Move in
Farm labor migration Youth single or married male came to work several months or years as farm
laborers to work in the coffee farms owned by relatives or neighbors. They
either came directly from Bohol, or from neighboring towns from the mid-
1980s until the early 1990s. A small proportion of them finally established in
Bendum after being able to buy some land
Farming migration Family came directly from Bohol from the late 1980s and during 1990s, with the
male household head arriving first, to buy and farm their own land. First
families who settled were younger than the later ones
Post-frontier
movement
Families and new couple moved from the neighboring towns, in particular from
St Peter. Most of these migrations were done in the late 1980s and 1990s
Family regrouping Older couples without dependents child joined their sons established in
Bendum. Some other type of household (e.g., family with child) also initially
visited a relative but finally established
New upland migration Recently established because of the following amenities they found: price of
land, quality of the soil, accessibility and the presence of a DEPEDa accredited
elementary school
Move out
Conflicts migration Insecurity due to the conflict between AFP and NPA, the aggressive recruitment
and mobilization of NPA and the occasional violence within the migrant
community. People moved back to Bohol more or less hastily after a peak of
violence. Mainly occurred during 1990s and 2000s
Life event migration It occurred after a separation, to care an isolated parent in Bohol or because of
the sickness of a child. These moves occurred in spite of a good situation in
Bendum and all induced a move back to Bohol in the 1990s and 2000s
Education migration Household moved when the students reach College levels or after they
graduated in the neighboring urban areas or in Bohol. Most of the moves have
been done during the 1990s and 2000s
Non-adaptation
migration
Because of non-adaptation to the climate and to the remoteness of the place,
household moved back to their places of origin in Bohol in the 1990s and
2000s
Farming/livelihood
migration
Households moved out because of the problems in farming. The places of
destinations depend of the social networks, the past migratory experience and
the availability of (off-farming) jobs. Fresh college graduates also moved back
to Bohol. These moves were mostly done during the 2000s and 2010s
a DEPED for Department of Education
Popul Environ
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allow for acquisition of this category of land but, in practice, a variety of farming
arrangements took place. Shareholder tenancy was a common arrangement although
the workers were not protected from arbitrary decisions made by the landowners.
Since tenants could readily lose access to land, this was another migration
motivation. Furthermore, the fear of being dispossessed of their land prevented
many owners from allowing shareholders to plant perennial crops (e.g., coffee or
rubber) and provoked the movement of people seeking to plant coffee during the
coffee boom which started in the 1970s. Many households then moved upstream
where available land still existed.
Commercial logging began in the 1960s. Vast tracts of land were licensed for
timber extraction through Timber License Agreements (TLA hereafter). The
companies granted TLAs were entitled to log and clear the forest in both A&D and
timberland. The subsequent chaotic natural and sociocultural environment precip-
itated the decision of some lumad households to move to more remote areas in an
effort to maintain their way of life. On the other hand, dumagat individuals moved
to the area in search of logging-related jobs. Later, some of them established farms
in logged or cleared areas. Dumagat villages emerged then where previously
logging camps had been established. In short, logging acted as an enticement for
lumads to leave the region and dumagats to migrate into the area.
More recent local and regional economic changes induced some people to leave
Bendum, permanently or temporarily, downstream and toward urban centers. The
differentiation of local economies between cities and villages created an opportunity
for the more educated of the second generation to migrate away from villages
through the offer of tertiary and off-farm employment unavailable locally. However,
some urban households were unable to afford the high cost of living especially after
the birth of a child and thus moved back to Bendum where extended family could
offer support.
Improvements in transport infrastructure during the last two decades also allowed
some individuals established in Bendum to maintain or to develop an occupation
outside the village. Increasing accessibility was then correlated with a diversification
of livelihood portfolios and the emergence of a new migration pattern. In summary,
in a relatively short period of time (±50 years), the watershed experienced severe
ecological, political, social, cultural, infrastructural and economic changes and
perturbations, due to commercial logging, politicization, population growth and
cultural changes, that overall strongly influenced migration patterns.
To and from Bohol
Interviews revealed that the issues that drove people out of central Bohol, where
most of the migrants originated, were related to (1) the small size of farms (usually
between one quarter and one half hectare planted with rice, white corn, coconut or
root crops), (2) the high rate of shareholders and (3) the landlessness problem
especially among younger people. The small farm size was a direct consequence of
land fragmentation provoked by the subdivision of land through inheritance.
Furthermore, the access to land for the younger generation was hindered because the
lowlands were already heavily populated and since environmental laws limited
Popul Environ
123
farming in the uplands. The high prevalence of shareholders was mainly due to the
unequal land distribution resultant of accumulation by absentee landowners after the
World War II (Urich 2003). For these reasons, migrations toward Mindanao, dubbed
locally as ‘the land of promises,’ were relatively common.
Four other important push factors included (1) conflicts between NPA and the
regular Philippine Army which began during the first half of the 1980s in central
Bohol, (2) soil erosion in the karstic environment, (3) the El Nino-related drought in
1973 and 1983, and (4) the limited employment opportunities outside the
agricultural sectors due to the absence of significant industries in Bohol. These
reasons were evoked in the general case of migration to Mindanao, not in the
specific case of Bendum migration.
The Bohol natives who migrated toward Mindanao in the aftermath of World
War II generally belonged to the better-off ‘landowner class’ (Urich 2003).
However, the people now living in Bendum, arrived in Mindanao during the 1970s
and later, belong to lower classes with regard to land assets. Because the best lands
in Mindanao were already occupied, the more recent migrants progressively moved
toward more remote and upland areas. The first member of a household to move was
usually an adult child, still single or recently married.
To and from Bendum
The main factors shaping migration to or from Bendum, or the decision to stay, are
provided in Table 6. Factors related to farming activity (e.g., transactions, farmed
land extension, soil degradation, cropping systems) were most frequently cited by
interviewees. Some lumads who arrived in Bendum already possessed a vast tract of
family land under customary rights (known locally as a ‘gaup’). Others were either
given land by relatives or by local political leaders, sometimes in compensation for
land lost through grabbing in another portion of the watershed.
Lumads traditionally carried out trade through barter and when the opportunity
arose for them to trade with the newly migrated dumagats, their inexperience in cash
economy often led land owners exchanging land for goods at an enviably low rate.
Even so, the products of the land transactions between lumads and dumagats, either
in cash or in kind, were instrumental in alleviating seasonal hunger and to cover
lumad’s basic needs or emergency expenses (Lawrence 1995). A number of the
perceived ‘better’ plots of land were also acquired by dumagats from local political
leaders without consideration of previous land users (usually lumads). A
consequence was that lumads did not retain much of the best lands and that the
spatial distribution of land does not appear to be independent of the ethnicity of the
owners.
The concept of ‘good land’ is, however, relative in the uplands since modern
agrarian practices are not adapted to mountainous soil conditions. The continuous
cultivation, regular plowing and reduction of crop diversity contribute (among other
factors) to the erosion of fertile topsoil leading to the reduction of yields (Rola et al.
2010). The subsequent declining agricultural rent became a cause of out-migration
starting from the early 2000s. Agrarian and demographic changes are therefore
correlated.
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Most of the farming systems developed by the dumagats until the late 1990s
relied on the combination of coffee as cash crop and white corn as subsistence crop.
Labor in coffee farming was a major pull factor in the arrival of youth from Bohol
from the mid-1980s to the 1990s. Thereafter, the reduction of coffee price combined
with the credit access through local financers paved the way to the adoption of corn
(first hybrid and then GMO) for animal feeds, for which the farmers began to use
chemical fertilizers. The areas in which hybrid corn was planted gradually increased
until the majority of farmers realized the financial dangers of the venture.
Nevertheless, the period coincided with high labor availability in the community,
which was a major source of income for lumads who had not developed cash crop
cultivation to the same extent as dumagats. The abandonment of corn by dumagats
meant a relative increase in land devoted to crops such as rubber which was
preferred by absentee landowners for its ease of monitoring, the good farm gate
prices, and because it was less labor-intensive. The requirement for labor in rubber
plantation is inferior to the labor necessary for corn and coffee farms. Reduction or
absence of daily work is frequently cited by both second-generation lumads and
dumagats as a reason to move.
Table 6 Bendum’s attributes which impacted the decision-making
Attributes Process at stakes
Culture Co-existence of different cultural groups has induced some multilateral acculturation
process, e.g., consumption and farming practices patterns; language and attached
beliefs. Acculturation is more easily observed in the second generation
Demography Population growth has secondary effects: political—and corollary benefices of public
services—and economical (higher demand for basic products and for leisure—
karaoke—). Because most of the out-migrants are youths, the dumagat population tends
to age
Economy The flows of cash and the supply of farm labor jobs evolved with the major crops planted
Environment Valuation of environmental amenities by the first IP settlers that sustained their traditional
activities (upland rice, hunting, gathering non-timber forest products). Second-
generation individuals now value environmental amenities such as clean air, cool
temperature and calm
Farming Initial low value of land combined with good soils attracted the first dumagats.
Progressive extension of farmland and conservation-oriented policies increased the rate
of occupancy of marginal land. Soil degradation due to continuous farming and
increasing chemical
Land use Land use changes which occurred in response to the market demand, price of inputs, the
dependency ratio within household, the occurrence of pest, the type of landowners (e.g.,
absentee landowners), and finances constraints, induce different labor needs
Location Accessibility and remoteness were criteria of attraction or repulsion for different
population at different periods
Public
services
The development of public services (1) allows the diversification of livelihood through
the improvement of roads access, (2) induces the development of a cash economy
through the fees required to access the different services and (3) by increasing the
exposure of children to education alters the decisions taken by the educated children
Security Latent insecurity triggers a permanent state of vulnerability while punctual peak of
violence triggers movement of both ethnic groups
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Finally, the closing of the forest frontiers, through conservation-based policies,
also reduced the opportunities for land acquisition, in particular for younger
households, which was frequently cited as a further reason to move. It is notable that
in other parts of Mindanao, the lack of available land benefited second level cities as
early as the 1970s (Keely 1973).
In all, the most important processes that affected the early movement of
households from Bohol to the Pulangi watershed and Bendum were related to land
availability. This is not unexpected given that the subject households are primarily
farmers. If access to land was a major pull factor, the declining agricultural rent
progressively became a major push factor from purely agricultural areas to more
diversified areas. The achievement of higher education levels has been instrumental
in this transition because of the changes in terms of skills and knowledge but also
representations and perspectives.
Moves and migration from the perspectives of individuals and households
Some individual and household attributes combined with the above processes
influenced the decision to move or to stay (see Table 7).
The interviews revealed that second and third generation residents clearly have
had a significantly different life experience as compared to the pioneers. They have
had a more exposure to formal education, the cash economy, ‘modern’ life and the
culture of the lowlands (due to better transport infrastructure). One consequence of
these changes has been the blurring in distinction of classic migration types between
educated second-generation lumads and dumagats. The impact of higher education
(high school level and above) has expanded interest in employment outside of the
agricultural sector. Further, intercultural weddings between lumad and dumagat
have also altered migration patterns of lumads; some following their spouses to
Bohol.
The livelihood framework allows the analysis to go beyond the simplistic view of
migrant as a rational decision maker such as in the neo-classical model (Piotrowski
and Tong 2013). This framework focuses on the assets (social, physical, natural,
human and financial) of the household and the ways in which assets shape migration
decision-making. Here, social networks, and more specifically, the kin networks,
appear to have deeply influenced both the decision to move and the destination of
the movement through information or financial support. Through population inertia
(Barbieri et al. 2009), these networks created kin- and acquaintance-based clusters.
Low levels of capital in the form of land meant that network-based migrations were
particularly significant in the region. The absence of private insurance and
ineffectiveness of policies aimed to alleviate poverty also drove migration.
Discussion
Results confirm that the pioneers were risk-takers while later newcomers had higher
risk aversion. Chayanov’s household lifecycle model helps to define the differential
propensity of individuals to move at different stages in their life. The tenets
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underlying the model assert that lifecycle and age both alter the level of risk aversion
and subsequently the propensity to move (Barbieri et al. 2009; Raharto and Noveria
2005). The modeled relation adopts a reverse U-shape form where the risk aversion is
low for younger individuals, increases for the older couples and finally reduces for
the older people, irrespective of whether married or widowed. A relation also exists
between risk aversion and the ratio of dependents to workers within a household. In
the present study, this model has only been challenged in a limited number of cases,
when insecurity (physical or tenure) was high or when the migration was over a short
distance. The risk aversion to migrate to Bendum also decreased after the first
migrants experienced some economic success, e.g., due to coffee production.
In the Amazon, the stage at which cash crops developed was linked with the
aging of the frontier and with advanced household lifecycles (VanWey et al. 2012).
Table 7 Household’s attributes which impacted the decision-making
Household attributes Impact on the decision to move
Assets/capital Social capital has (1) directed the moves, (2) supplied information relative to the
land-related opportunities, (3) been instrumental in the increasing access to
education through financial support and accommodation given by relative living
in the vicinity of the village, (4) reduced the cost of migration
Human capital through education level and health problems
Natural capital: together the size of the farm or the absence of land to till induced
some move either within the watershed or from Bohol. Declining rent induced
some move toward new frontier (older generation) or urban areas (younger
generation)
Financial assets are used to finance the education of the child which finally
increases the propensity to move out (substitution of natural capital by human
capital). The actual lack of finances in particular to afford fertilizer drives the
household to places where they can find off-farming or non-farming jobs
Individual physical assets like motorbike allow to diversify livelihood and to
reduce the dependence on farming.
Ethnicity and
tradition
Both affect the range of potential place to move to. Traditional lumad wedding
induced specific moves after the wedding. Moving was also a common way to
avoid the growth of familial or community conflicts within the lumad culture
Generation Second-generation migrants have a higher degree of attachment to the village
which translated into the decision-making regarding a move or a stay. The
higher level of exposure of second-generation migrant to education,
globalization and cash economy induced specific generation-based migrations,
in particular oriented toward tertiary and off-farming jobs. A generational shift
was observed regarding the main reasons to move: from land-related to cash-
related
Household lifecycle Correlated with different risk aversion that depends of the composition of the
household, the lifecycle stage, but also the period and the geographical move
Past migratory
experiences
The exposure to urban areas increases the propensity to move again toward urban
areas and modify the attitude toward farming
The improvement of standard of living in the new place of residence by a prior
migrant increased the propensity of kin members to migrate also. Success of
prior migrants in the coffee production thus positively influenced further
migration
Popul Environ
123
Yet in our Philippines study setting, it was found that the first dumagat pioneers
planted coffee, a cash crop, in addition to staple food (white corn). The local
presence of buyers and shorter distances to processing plants may explain the
distinction.
In the rural Philippines, older couples without dependent children who joined
adult sons also appeared to be an exception in the frontier area. The majority of
migrants were of productive and reproductive ages (Pichon 1997).
The ‘arrival first’ model, however, replicates quite faithfully when only dumagats
are considered as migrants. However, a difference is that the initial model fails to
predict the asymmetry of land holdings between locals (lumads) and migrants
(dumagats). Another difference with Amazon cases is the absence of evidence that
the remittance sent by out-migrants encouraged the adoption of livestock or
perennial crops (Carr 2004; Barbieri et al. 2009). It was found that the remittances
sent by the youth working outside Bendum mainly supported household food
consumption and the education of siblings. Indeed, the importance given to
extended family in the Philippines, and not the nuclear family, has some major
implications on the migration patterns. As in many other places, social networks
strongly influence the direction of movement (De Jong et al. 1996; Massey 1990;
Raleigh 2011), but here we have demonstrated this for populations with different
cultural background (both lumads and dumagats). Finally, the progressive
movement of both locals and migrants toward more upstream marginal agricultural
lands, in response to social and environmental changes, is not commonly found in
the literature—but is a pattern that emerged in our Philippines study setting.
The study also offered evidence on the existing links between environment and
population changes. In Bohol, sending a household member outside corresponded to
a household strategy to spread risks across uncorrelated markets and to maximize
household welfare (Williams and Balaz 2012; Findley 1987; Cohen and Sirkeci
2011). Furthermore, because neither cropland extension nor intensification was
possible, as the multiphasic model anticipates (Bilsborrow and Ogendo 1992),
temporary migrations followed by permanent ones occurred (Carr et al. 2009).
Years of extractive agriculture combined with the use of chemical fertilizer (used
for hybrid corn) undermined soil fertility and crop production, which became the
proximate drivers of out-migration. Ironically, this happened even though soil
fertility was evoked as the main reason of their arrival in Bendum. On the very short
term, the access to credit for buying chemical fertilizers allowed recent returnee
migrants to override the reduction of natural soil fertility, but the long-term strategy
of out-migration is likely to continue if soil fertility is not restored.
Conclusion
A unique aspect of this study has been the consideration given to both in-migrants
and out-migrants (Caviglia-Harris et al. 2013). Several qualitative and quantitative
differences between the movement patterns of indigenous peoples (lumads) and
migrants (dumagats) were found.
Popul Environ
123
Two broad categories of migration determinants were investigated: the socio-
environmental processes and individual/household attributes. Regarding individual
and household attributes, our attention was focused on ethnicity, tradition,
generation, household lifecycle, assets and past experiences, while the main
socio-environmental processes analyzed are related to the land: cultivation,
appropriation, exclusion, fertility among others. Indeed, land scarcity and land
productivity were key drivers of migration across the study period.
Also, key in shaping migration was commercial logging. The limited willingness
and capacity of the government to enforce the law within timberland areas thereafter
paved the way for the colonization process. In Bohol, structural and conjectural land
and farming problems drove out-migration of farmers for several generations. The
more recent out-migration was due to conservation-oriented policies, intergener-
ational cultural changes and the declining rent of extractive agriculture. Further-
more, the appeal to become a farmer, as a strong motivation of migrants, has been
replaced by the promise to obtain off-farm or service jobs. The primordial role of
education on out-migration of second-generation migrants confirms the model
which predicts migration when the educational level and the occupation mismatch
(Quinn and Rubb 2005).
Overall, migrations in this region can be included in complex causality networks
and seen as both the cause and consequence of changes and impacts on the society
and the environment. Here, migrations were associated with long-term impacts such
as acculturation, farming practice changes followed by soil degradation, new food/
good consumption patterns and politicization.
Disregard for traditions, misunderstanding of local ecologies, misconceptions
about causes and solutions to poverty in the uplands and lack of resident
involvement produced a number of ineffective policy programs through the years
(e.g., contour farming, pro-poor seeds dispersal). We argue that the uplands must
receive policy and programmatic attention that respects local sociocultural and
ecological diversity. Further studies of migration patterns, farming practices and
environmental changes in the uplands should inform these initiatives.
Acknowledgments The authors are thankful to the Belgian Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique
(FNRS) for part-funding the research project Modeling Agrarian and Population Dynamics in the
Philippines (MAPDIP). The authors are also grateful to two research assistants, Jenifer Ogania and Aili
Gatuslao, for their invaluable help in the collection of primary and secondary data. The authors thank
anonymous reviewers for insightful and constructive comments and suggestions. Conor Cahill, a native
English speaker, was employed to review a late draft of this paper.
Ethical standards The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were
performed.
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