Cordillera technocrats are pushing to revive a regional governing body for the preservation of the country’s rice terraces, as calls grow for a comprehensive master plan to protect the World Heritage-listed landscape from abandonment, climate change and deteriorating infrastructure.
The Cordillera Regional Development Council is studying a draft resolution urging President Marcos to establish a Cordillera Rice Terraces Commission, which would oversee the conservation of rice terraces across the region.
The proposed commission would replace the Ifugao Rice Terraces Commission, which was created in 1994 to oversee the preservation and restoration of the terraces but was abolished in 1999. Its responsibilities were later transferred to the Banaue Rice Terraces Task Force, which was dissolved in 2002, leaving the provincial government of Ifugao to take the lead in conservation efforts.
The proposed body would also cover rice terraces outside Ifugao, including those in Mountain Province.
The Batad, Bangaan, Mayoyao, Hungduan and Nagacadan rice terraces in Ifugao were collectively inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage List in 1995.
The terraces remain notable for their indigenous engineering, in which water collected from forested areas at the upper portions of the mountains is channeled through traditional irrigation systems to successive rice paddies, locally called ‘payao.’
‘The establishment of the Cordillera Rice Terraces Commission is crucial for stopping the deterioration of the terraces,’ the draft resolution says. It adds that the body could help revitalize indigenous knowledge and sustainable farming practices while enabling younger generations to continue traditional agriculture.
The proposal comes as urban planner and architect Felino Palafox recently pitched to Malacañang a comprehensive master plan for Banaue and other municipalities where the Ifugao rice terraces are located.
During a meeting with Marcos last week, Palafox offered to prepare a Comprehensive Urban, Environmental, Infrastructure, and Economic Development Master Plan for Banaue and the Rice Terraces Municipalities of Ifugao.
His proposal goes beyond repairing damaged terrace walls and irrigation systems, focusing also on the terraces’ role in the local economy and the engineering interventions needed to preserve them.
It argues that the terraces are deteriorating partly because the communities maintaining them can no longer earn enough from farming to sustain their livelihoods.
Palafox estimated that 25 percent to 35 percent of the terraces have been abandoned or irreversibly damaged, citing population decline and environmental pressures, including extreme weather that has damaged the ancient stone and earthen terrace walls.
The proposal, cosigned by the Ifugao provincial government and Polish entrepreneur Maciej Podhajski, also cited low farm incomes as a reason residents leave the province, threatening the workforce needed to maintain the terraces.
Palafox placed the typical farmer’s annual income at about P50,000, which he described as insufficient to sustain a livelihood.
Ifugao officials have been reviewing the proposal and have yet to make their comments public.
Protecting culture
Former Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. said any master plan must address the needs of the communities that continue to maintain the terraces and grow heirloom rice.
‘We must protect and nurture the watershed,’ Baguilat said.
He said the government should subsidize farmers and provide livelihood support, rehabilitate irrigation systems and strengthen programs that preserve indigenous knowledge.
Ifugao communities follow a traditional rice culture that governs planting schedules and the maintenance of the terraces.
Baguilat also called for mechanisms that would allow farmers and local communities to benefit from tourism revenues generated by the terraces.
Often described as 2,000 years old, the Ifugao terraces have been the subject of archaeological research suggesting that some of the structures may have been built or significantly expanded only several hundred years ago, possibly in response to pressures brought by Spanish expansion into the Cordillera.
The terraces remain a living agricultural landscape, sustained not only by stone and earth structures but also by indigenous knowledge and communal practices passed down through generations.
Ifugao had a population of 208,668, according to the latest available census data. The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that in 2024, the province was the second-fastest growing economy in the Cordillera, accounting for 7.5 percent of the region’s gross domestic product, estimated at P28.24 billion.
The proposed commission and master plan are aimed at addressing the intertwined challenges of conservation, livelihood, tourism and climate resilience-while keeping the terraces a living part of Ifugao culture rather than simply preserving them as a heritage site.