Prosperous Filipino Tribal Society Built on Sustainable Coconut Farming

I was sixteen the first time I visited an indigenous Filipino community. I remember playing a game of tag with one of the children from the Aeta tribe, who took me under a bridge of trees and into what seemed like a separate world – their lonely village in Zambales. 

I was born in the Philippines, but I grew up in Singapore. I would visit the Philippines at least twice each year, but this was my first time engaging with the very Filipinos whose ancestors had inhabited the land since the beginning of time. The Aetas were one of the few tribes which built the foundation for my home country, yet I knew nothing about their culture, lifestyle, and more concerningly, their extreme poverty and marginalisation.

Living in houses loosely constructed of tree branches and blanketing leaves, the livelihood of the Aetas almost solely depended on the nature around them. I felt intense worry and enormous guilt when I began to connect how my consumerist, environmentally unconscious lifestyle contributed to the degradation of theirs. 

Four years later, I am thrilled to be part of a company that is dedicated to the prosperity of indigenous Filipino societies, built on sustainable coconut farming. 

Like majority of Filipino tribal areas, the Rizal Municipality in Palawan was tremendously impoverished. Before 2016, their economic survival depended on illegal activities like the wildlife trade. In an indigenous community of over 3,000 families living on the Lionheart Agrotech plantation, the poverty rate has decreased by 40% in the last four years. Rizal’s working-age community members earn fair trade wages through employment with Cocoes, a subsidiary of Lionheart Agrotech in Singapore selling organic coconut products made from the finest raw material available. 

With the belief that superior products require a holistic interactive approach with the farmers they work with, Cocoes further empowers Filipino tribal communities by providing  social benefits such as healthcare, educational opportunities, and healthy food for farmers and their families. Cocoes will release four guilt-free indulgent food products in Singapore this August. Its coconut syrup and coconut sugar are healthy alternatives to table sugar and maple syrup, boasting 400x more potassium, a larger volume of electrolytes, and a lower glycemic index. 

Cocoes’ Coconut Sugar

Cocoes’ Coconut Syrup

Cocoes’ Coconut Vinegar substitutes regular vinegar; it is high in iron and zinc, and low in calories and cholesterol. Lastly, the subtly-sweet, detoxifying Coconut Flower Water is plant based, derived from the concentration process involved in producing Cocoes’ Coconut Syrup. 

Cocoes’ Coconut Vinegar

Cocoes’ Flower Water

The manufacturing of these products involves new technology that increases productivity and aids in waste reduction, ultimately benefiting the human and ecological environment in Palawan. Join Cocoes in its mission by pre ordering its healthy, sustainable, and traceable coconut products at this link: tinyurl.com/cocoes2020.