Pulangiyēn women handcraft citronella products as livelihood from the forest

In the mornings in Sitio Bendum, when the fog still hangs low over the ridgeline, one can already hear the gentle swish of citronella leaves being gathered as Pulangiyēn women move quietly through the paths they have known since childhood, the long green blades brushing against their woven baskets. In this forest, everything has a story and one of the newest stories is about citronella.

Citronella grass (Cymbopogon confertiflorus) is grown around the APC schools and other buildings, and is a plant that survives the hard red clay and the unpredictable rains. Recently, the citronella plants have become a way for women to shape a livelihood with their own hands, using what the forest offers in abundance.

The first citronella plants were tucked into the edges of vegetable patches and pathways. Young people helped dig the soil, mothers watered the new clumps, elders watched the shoots take root in areas once considered “poor” for farming. Over time, the clumps grew into lush, green, fragrant plants and full of possibilities.

Then came the equipment and training provided to APC by the Department of Science and Technology Region 10, with the Local Government of Malaybalay City. Eighteen indigenous women were trained on how to harvest the leaves and how to distill them into oil. The women learned to listen to the rhythm of the equipment and appreciate the scent of the steam. The process was new, but the patience required felt familiar – just like weaving, planting corn, or tending to a fire.

Pulangiyēn women – mothers, farmers, caretakers of their community – stepped into a small workspace in APC and produced the first citronella balms, oil blends, and scented candles. They mixed the oil slowly, checked each batch more than twice, and talked about the people they hoped would use these products – mothers who want natural remedies, children battling mosquitoes, neighbors who prefer something gentle on the skin. When the first balm and candle had set, and when they tried the insect-repellant oil blend on their skin, they smiled the kind of smile that comes from doing something new, making something from scratch by themselves, using an effective product that is theirs.

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS)-Asia Pacific brought some visitors from JRS Singapore to Bendum who then brought some of the products back to Singapore. At the JRS Singapore Roadshow on 24 October 2025, APC’s citronella products were displayed and sold. Together with the Jesuit Companions in Indigenous Ministry in the Philippines, indigenous communities are supported to harness a natural resource, citronella, and create a sustainable livelihood that protects the community’s ancestral lands.

APC staff and Aijen Linantad, one of the citronella production trainees and head of production, joined the 1st Saka ta Malaybalay City Livelihood Summit on 11 and 12 November 2025 and proudly displayed and sold the products at the event bazaar. People stopped to ask questions: You make this in Bendum? How do you grow the plants? How long does it take to distill the oil? Aijen responded to the queries with the quiet pride that can come only from someone who produced the products themselves.

Much work is still ahead for APC’s citronella project. There is paperwork to complete for the Department of Trade and Industry, new batches to prepare, and discussions about possible retail lines. But in Bendum, progress doesn’t rush. It unfolds in seasons, in cycles, in the careful balance between forest and community.

What matters most is that the work is truly theirs now – rooted in the hills they walk every day, strengthened by partnership, carried by the hands and stories of Pulangiyēn women.

Citronella in Bendum is no longer just a plant. It has become livelihood, learning, and a quiet act of resilience in a world that asks communities like theirs to adapt again and again.

Related story: APC receives citronella processing equipment from LGU Malaybalay