MILESTONES: Stone Picking in Luna La Union
Allana Ruth P. Abuda
Angelo A. Siador
INTRODUCTION
The town of Luna is rich in Pebbles and Stones
and its 14 villages made Stone picking as the
main Industry, it is named after the Artist Juan
Luna. When the demand increases,
The number of stone pickers also increases
relocating their homes to make their work easier
especially because it is closer to the beach. The
whole beach becomes their workplace in the
morning and their sanctuary in the afternoon.
During weekends, stone picking also serves as
family bonding where parents and their children
pick stones together. Most of the stone pickers
collect stones during the day and go fishing at
night, especially if they did not earn enough from
stone picking. Young and old residents of Luna,
La Union, comb the town’s beach in search of
pebbles and stones that they sell to traders and
exporters.
In the Study The impact of stone quarrying on the
environment and the livelihood of communities in
Mandera County, Kenya. Mogambi and
Mohamed (2016) concluded that there is a
possibility that stone quarrying can be a big help
specifically on the development of the financial
social and physical capitals of stone quarrying




Communities. Stone quarrying can also affect the
sustainability of community’s natural capitals for
Example land and vegetation cover and human
capital due to pollution thus affect their health.
As postulated by Ballesteros and Gonzales
(2016) proves that Employment-directed trainings
showed positive results with participants mainly
the youth and with higher probability of
employment for those trained since these trainings
were linked to specific jobs. The chances of
gainful and sustainable employment are better.
Given its longer term impact, employment-
directed trainings should be given more attention.
This raises the issue on the role of DSWD in job
matching services. It is important to note that a
number of other labor market programs have
already been rolled out in the Philippines in order
to increase employment to the marginalized and
vulnerable sectors. Many of these programs are
administered/managed by the DOLE.
There is a need to define DSWD’s role in
facilitating employment relative to other
government agencies and labor programs.
In the Research entitled The Livelihood needs of a
countryside in the Philippines as Garcia (2017)
assessed Sitio, Santol, La Union based on the
economic situation of the countryside of the
Philippines, which can represent the condition of
the rural areas in other countries of similar
characteristics particularly in Asia. The rural
community like Sitio Malanas, Santol La Union is
basically an agricultural area where the source of
living mainly comes from their agricultural
produce. Root crops like sweet potato, as well as
rice, corn, and fruits can be used as ingredients of
processed food products that can be sold to
augment the income of the community. The
findings show that there is a need for a program to
improve the livelihood needs of the community.
Recommendation The proposed livelihood
improvement should be implemented by the
school in cooperation with the local government
officials of the community; the implementation of
the proposed improvement plan should be
monitored not only by the school but also by the
local government of the community; and another
study should be conducted in the countryside of
the Philippines and also in other countries
regarding their livelihood needs.
According Manuel and Rivera (2013) in their
research entitled DMMMSU’s Fisheries R & D:
An Intervention to Sustainable Livelihood for
Coastal Families in La Union. It is aimed to
strengthen coastal families through sustainable
livelihood making them self-sufficient and self-
reliant. Specifically, it aimed to promote Fisheries
and technologies as livelihood projects to target
beneficiaries; to strengthen linkages with LGUs,
non-government organizations and government
agencies for the implementation of the
technologies as livelihood projects by the coastal
families; to organize coastal folks for technology
commercialization; to extend financial and
technical assistance to the target beneficiaries and
enhance the wild stock population and
biodiversity of the service communities.. Fisheries
priority commodities included seaweed and sea
urchin. Culture techniques, post-harvest handling
and product formulation were explored to develop
sustainable livelihood for coastal families in the
province. Developed technologies included
Production of seaweed-based products such as
seaweed candies, seaweed pickles; seaweed bath
soap; sea urchin culture in cages were adopted by
the beneficiaries.
Every single stone has an amount or value for
people in Barangay Barrientos, La Union, these
colorful and unique stones made Luna well
known in many countries. Collections of assorted
and packed stones will lead to endless shore of
stones. Luna stones are widely used in many
industries, resulting in increasing demand for
them. Together with an increasing demand is the
increasing number of stone pickers relocating
their homes closer to the beach to make their
work easier the whole beach becomes their
workplace in the morning and their sanctuary in
the afternoon. During weekends, stone picking
also serves as family bonding where parents and
their children pick stones together. Most of the
stone pickers collect stones during the day and go
fishing at night, especially if they did not earn
enough from stone picking.
In conclusion to these reviews, Agriculture is the
main source of industry and it plays an important
role in the Livelihoods of people in a local
community.
Most of them are families who work all together
to sustain their needs everyday especially for the
needs of their children, such as Health and
Education.
The results of the study will be of great benefit to
the following:
Coastal Families – Instead of sticking to stone
picking perceptively, the output of the study will
introduce more opportunities for coastal families
such as other job opportunities that may also suit
their skills and they may accomplish this with the
help of workshops. That is to at least lessen the
number of stone pickers.
Town a residents of Luna La union – Not that
only this research will raise awareness but it will
also promote the beauty of Luna since the town is
rich with stones and pebbles which also talks
about their stone crafting and one of the famous
tourist spots in Luna, The "Bahay Na Bato".
Future Researchers- This study would help the
future researchers to be aware and knowledgeable
of the processes involved in the stone picking
industry, coastal livelihoods and environmental
awareness. Learning that in building up an
Industry and livelihoods it is important to know
how resources are affected and how is it liable to
the people in a community and also promoting the
place with its natural beauty leading to a well
disciplined and just community.
1. What are the lived experiences of coastal
families/stone pickers in Luna, La Union?
a. Grand Parents/ Elders 

b. Parents

c. Children
2. What are the impacts of stone picking in
relation to the livelihood of coastal families in
Luna, La Union?
Definition of Terms
Stone picking – Alternative Source of Income of
Coastal Residents of Luna La Union.
Stone Pickers – The One who pick up stones and
sells them to Traders and Exporters.

Fishery – Primary Source of Income of Coastal
Residents of Luna La Union.
Traders and Exporters – A person who buys and
sells goods and the sending of goods or services
produced in one country to another country. 

Stone Quarrying – A quarry is a type of open-pit
mine in which dimension stone is dug from the
ground.
Coastal Families – Are families who live near the
sea.



This study aims to identify the different problems

of the stone pickers in Luna La Union.
MILESTONES: Stone Picking in Luna L
The following are the specific objectives:

1. To Find out the different Lifestyles of Fig 1.0

Stone Pickers in Luna La Union.
2. To come up with a documentary about
Stone Picking in Luna La Union.

As for the statement of the problems found by the

researchers, there are 2 problems that were
constructed:
 INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

1. What are the lived Conduct Interview and To Come up with a

experiences of coastal Observation 
 documentary about the stone
families/stone pickers in
Luna, La Union? To determine the existing picking in Luna La Union.
a. Grand Parents/ problems regarding: 

Elders 

b. Parents
 • Coastal Area
c. Children Residents
2. What are the impacts of • Stone Picking
stone picking in relation to Industry
the. 
 livelihood of coastal
families in Luna, La Union?
1. 


Research Design 


This study will use a qualitative research

approach. According to SIS International
Research (N.D), qualitative research often
precedes quantitative research in most research
models, where the former explores facets of a
research question while the latter provides “hard”
data about each possible cause in calculative
terms. Qualitative fieldwork often includes
conducting interviews, observing people, mystery
shopping, discussions and observing focus
groups.
Specifically, the researchers will be using a
descriptive design because It is used Qualitative
research. Qualitative fieldwork often includes
conducting interviews, observing people, mystery
shopping, discussions and observing focus
groups.


Instrumentation

The gathering of data for the study will be done

through interview and direct observation. This
Interview will elicit the pertinent information:
Respondents’ perceptions in terms of the
psychological, moral and social aspects and
factors that affect the perceptions of the
respondents. The Interview will be conducted on
the different coastal families/stone pickers in
Luna La Union. All the correspondents will be
given the same set of Interview questions. After
the Interview will be conducted, it will be
recorded and reviewed by the researchers. The
process will be made sure that the pertinent data
gathered for the study will be made valid, true,
and correct.
Population and locale of the study
This study will be conducted at Luna, La Union.
The participants of the study will come from the
Coastal Families specifically, The Stone Pickers.
The researchers opt for a more accessible study
site that could also sustain the information needed
for the study. The data will be gathered through
the perceptions of children, parents, and
grandparents.
Procedure
Data Analysis
The analysis of the data will be done through
thematization. This study aims to describe the
concept of the topic which to generate a
documentary about the stone pickers in Luna La
Union. Understanding their lifestyle through
direct observation before proceeding to the
interview or asking of questions.
Results And Discussion
The present study was an attempt to know about
the awareness of the stone pickers in Luna La
Union regarding the impacts in their livelihood.
As stated in the previous chapter, the researcher
selected a sample of 5 respondents residing in
Luna, La Union. On this representative sample, a
survey was carried out to find out the extent of
impact and observations by the residents during
this period of transition. An interview schedule
was used to collect data for the study. The stone
pickers have most likely similar answers from our
questions such as under the impact wherein they
have said that their daily lives depend on it
especially for the food. This schedule is
comprised of background information. The results
obtained were put through data analysis.
Specifically, these are the views of our
respondents.
Grandparents- "Stone picking is our own way of
surviving our lifestyle, as years passed by it is
obvious that our stones here in Luna are rapidly
being lessened until the mountains of stones
became flat. It affected us, our livelihood because
the stones are not as worth it as they are before.
Sales are more high before but even now that it
has decreased ,the demand is still strong."
Parents- "Our livelihood is really challenging but
we are already used to it. Because when we are
still kids we are already helping our parents and
we watch them do their work and how it's done.
Our income is not enough but we always do our
best to make it enough just for our food, We have
no problem for the expenses of our children in
going to school because our children provide their
own money.They are selling Barbecue and their
small income will be used for their school
expenses, we are proud of them."
Children- "We sell different items like
accessories or pots that are made of stones,
everyday we sell at "baluarte" just across our
home.There are few tourists that visits there daily
and it is a good opportunity for us to sell and have
our earnings which will also help our parents and
grandparents."
Generally, the stone pickers in Luna la union are
hardworking. They are full of hope and
perseverance. Every children of the family have
their own dreams and their parents will never
want to break it. Stone picking is beneficial for
the stone pickers in three ways: Food, Education,
and Construction. Food is very important it is the
first priority of the families next is for education
in which their children also benefits by making
crafts out of the stones they pick, and lastly is for
construction, the stones and stone pickers are part
of the Industry where constructions and buildings
are made. Stone pickers are not just low workers
behind them are big walls of dreams, love for
family and hope. Their bond is so strong that even
their children become matured enough to
understand the nature reality of life.
Conclusion
 N., C., De, F., O., Gladys, V., P., & N. (n.d.).


In conclusion, the results of this study provide
some fascinating insights about the daily
experiences of stone pickers in Luna La Union
and it reveals that they are not earning enough in
stone picking to support their daily needs.
Contrary to what we predicted, they pick stones
not to promote the tourism and beauty of Luna
rather they pick stones to support their living. On
the other hand they don’t have other extra jobs
that will help to assist their livelihood.
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