It takes a lot of courage for Indigenous People (IP) children in crossing the dangerous “monkey bridge” over Panipiason River to attend their classes in a nearby Sitio Igtughangin, Brgy. Panipiason, Madalag, Aklan.
This monkey bridge which is made of woody vines or locally known as ‘balagon’ was conceptualized by residents to address their problem, particularly every rainy season where most students from Sitio Mananggad could not cross the high water level going to school.
Thinking of an alternative route, residents have decided to gather hundreds of woody vines from mountains of Nagaba and Napisong. They tangled it to make a bridge that connects from two sitios of Mananggad and Igtughangin. This measures approximately around 200 meters long.
Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary Nelly Salvador, 50, of Sitio Mananggad said she had nine children and three of them already finished college. Nelly said the other siblings were in high school while the other three, who are currently covered by the program, were enrolled in Igtughangin Integrated School.
In fact, one of Nelly’s children is already a public teacher in Igtughangin Primary School.
“Despite that it is very dangerous for my kids but they need to cross the river to attend their classes and to comply with the condition set by the program,” she said.
She hopes that the Local Government Unit (LGU) or even the national government could fund their village to have a new hanging bridge.
Nelly said they fear that in the coming years, no vines could be harvested from the mountains because the wild plant would take 20 to 30 years to mature. She added that the used vines on the bridge could be replaced every after six months.
For his part, elementary pupil Paolo Sakita, also a Pantawid Pamilya student beneficiary, expressed fear every time he climbs the bridge. However, he preferred to climb to save his bag from getting wet rather than crossing down the river.
Under the program, children are required to complete the 85 percent school attendance within the year.
Municipal Link Ianna Dawn Ferrer, who is assigned at the area, said the bridge also addressed the compliance rate of all the regular beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT).
“We have a high compliance rate at the area with regards to education and health, however, we could not deny that children opt not to go to school during rainy days because of fear in crossing the river,” she emphasized.
A total of 158 beneficiaries in the said barangay are included in the regular CCT. Of the number, 50 household beneficiaries are living in Sitio Mananggad where 20 of their children are regularly using the bridge.
In 2002, the monkey bridge was replaced by a hanging bridge as funded by a politician in Aklan, but in 2013, it was destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda./dswd6/Montesa G. Caoyonan

Photo Caption: Pantawid Pamilya student beneficiaries in Madalag, Aklan pass the dangerous ‘monkey bridge’ to reach school.