Most plots are next to each other on steep slopes and sweet potato is usually the first crop to be planted. Permanent rice agriculture on irrigated terraces is an old practice. Seasonal gathering for personal use in private forests, cane land and secondary forests. The products they collect are not traded for cash revenues. The staple food is rice but they also eat a lot of sweet potato grown on the swidden.
Craft work provides a few wooden objects and vessels for trade.
They live on the western slopes of the Cordillera Central, in the lowlands and the mountains. A company producing paper pulp, Cellophil , completely destroyed the Tinggian pine forests, and violated existing regulations protecting river headwaters and the rights over the land of the people living on it. The company and government officials have tried to hide the facts from the people concerned. The Tinggian's increasing awareness of their situation and the development of communist guerrilla have meant that Cellophil has had to reduce its activities since 1981.