Try going to the Mountain Province and you will find a group of people who smile with broken teeth, mouths stained bright red like blood. This is true. I’ve witnessed it in a sidewalk pasalubong hub—above the earth, overlooking Bontoc’s beautiful rice terraces.
The shopkeeper was conversing with a man in Ilokano; and I, the curious tourist, in Filipino. I asked him why his friend’s teeth looked smashed and red. “Pagnganganga,” he told me, “Ang tawag diyan pagnganganga. Gusto mo bang subukan?” (That is called “Pagnganganga.” Would you like to try it?)
Pagnganganga refers to the act of betel nut chewing practiced by some indigenous peoples in the Philippines. In Luzon’s northern regions, pagnganganga is done to relieve exhaustion from a day’s work. This made the practice popular with the working class ever since. As it is embedded in society, the tradition is well and alive in Philippine epics, legends, myths, and songs. In the indigenous groups’ oral histories, pagnganganga is believed to give warriors strength.
The betel nut contains alkaloids and tannins that stimulates the nervous system, which gives a relaxing feeling to anyone who consumes it. Likewise, this compound softens the flesh which inhibits salivation, and in turn lessens the appetite. The fruit’s pigment gives the impression of blood. Betel nut and betel leaf also complement each other for their “hotness” and “coldness”, and for this property, the fruit is used for various medicinal purposes in Southeast Asia, like curing dyspepsia, rheumatism, and headache. Aside from its relieving properties, betel nut chewing is also an aphrodisiac.
This is how one does it: First, one should lay down a dahon-bunga (betel leaf) and cut a bunga (betel nut) in half so that a bit of apog (lime) and tabako (tobacco) may be inserted. Then, one stacks them all together on top of another dahon. Lastly, it is rolled up in one’s desired shape and size for chewing. What comes out is called balumbon, which roughly translates to “a roll”. Some locals chew their balumbon until they fall asleep.
For a fruit that relieves exhaustion and is used as alternative medicine, broken teeth seem like a small price to pay, but this does not tell the full story at all. Betel nut as a stimulant is addictive, while tobacco itself is carcinogenic, which makes chewing the balumbon extremely dangerous. Scientists have cited numerous illnesses linked to the practice which affects the nervous system (palpitation, neurotoxicity) and endocrine system (hepatoxicity, weight loss). What experts worry about pagnganganga the most is oral cancer, which is dominant in the Western Pacific region where betel nut is widely consumed.
In 2020, the LGU of Baguio approved the final reading of a local ordinance that regulates the chewing and selling of betel nut. Likewise, Taiwan—where mortality rates for oral cancer ranks extremely high—is moving to regulate the most popular fruit for the working class. Neighboring Sri Lanka, on the other hand, entirely banned the product. With developments in formal science, long-standing customs and practices like betel nut chewing are challenged for their harmful effects on people's health.
The fact of the matter is that pagnganganga has been a huge part of the lives of indigenous Filipinos; even before colonial forces arrived on our shores. For example, Pigafetta’s accounts in The First Voyage Around the World described men and women from Visayas with teeth that are “red and black, for they think it’s the most beautiful”. Our use of the fruit has been accounted for centuries ago!
In Mindanao’s ethnic groups such as Maguindanao, Tausug, Maranaw, and Bagobo, betel nut is associated with vital rituals in the community. One scholar noted that the custom of spitting in public places is linked to “scaring the aswang as he went about his daily chores.” It aids our rituals.
It was also a huge part of our social fabric. Indigenous groups in the Philippines give betel nuts to visitors as a sign of hospitality. Back then, forgetting to give betel nuts for visitors to chew is a sign of disrespect. Pagnganganga is also seen as a marker of a group’s identity, as seen among some Ibaloys in Benguet. Betel nut continues to carry the same function in a few northern indigenous groups until today.
Pagnganganga continues to persevere in the Western Pacific despite state intervention and modernity. Whether or not the detrimental effects of pagnganganga on health outweigh the value of the custom in the culture is beyond our judgment, us outsiders. Personally, I just wish to see the same wide smiles the next time I visit Bontoc.
References
“Chewing Betel and Arecanut Banned in Sri Lanka.” WHO FCTC Secretariats Knowledge Hub on Smokeless Tobacco, https://untobaccocontrol.org/kh/smokeless-tobacco/chewing-betel-areca-nut-banned-sri-lanka/.
“Chewing, Selling of Betel Nut in City Regulated.” The City Government of Baguio, Government of Baguio, 13 Mar. 2020, https://www.baguio.gov.ph/content/chewing-selling-betel-nut-city-regulated.
Lacey, Cindy Sui and Anna. “Asia's Deadly Secret: The Scourge of the Betel Nut.” BBC News, BBC, 22 Mar. 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-31921207.
Pangkat-Etniko Sa Pilipinas.” Dalumat, vol. 5, no. 1, 2019, pp. 26–34.
Pontemayor, Freddielyn. “Gamit, Epekto at Kultural Na Representasyon Ng Nganga Ng Mga
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About the author
Jerome is a student from Ateneo de Manila. For peace of mind, he likes to walk to listen to the birds.
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