GERONIMO, John Verjo C.

1334-GRIZAL

EVALUATING CULTURAL BIASES

THE AETAS
Who are the Aetas?
The Aetas (also known as Agtas) are Australo-Melanesians. Aetas are characterized by their
skin color, height, and hair type. The Aetas, pronounced as “eye-tas," are among the Philippines'
earliest known migrants or inhabitants. Over the years, the majority of their population managed to
keep their cultural practices and traditions. However, sadly, as one of the indigenous groups thriving
in the country, they also face displacement, marginalization, and poverty.

Their distinguishing characteristics and practices

They mostly have dark to dark-brown skin, curly hair and are usually below five feet tall.
Traditionally, Aetas are hunting and gathering indigenous people. They are actually among the most
skilled in jungle survival – they are even making use of plants as herbal medicine and possess tools
and weapons. While they are nomadic, they can build temporary houses made of sticks.
Most Aetas practice monotheism and are animists. They worship a Supreme Being and, at the
same time, also believe in environmental spirits. They believe that both good and evil spirits are
governing various places in our environment. As for their clothing, they wear plain and simple attire.
Traditional Aetas, skilled in weaving and plating, wear wrap-around skirts or bark cloth (for women)
and loincloths. They are also into music and the arts – making use of ornaments as accessories and
ensembling instruments to create melodious rhythms.

Cultural practices and values they intend to keep

Family routine and role of members. The residents maintain routines and specific roles for their
members. Newly married children build their dwellings near their parents' house and work on their
father's farm for a while. They are later assigned a lot to farm for their family's needs and become
independent. Grandparents often live in the same compound and eat with a family of one of their
children, but they have their dwelling.
Marriage-related cultural practices. “Bandi," "langgad," "mamahabi," and "pahungaw” are the
more popular cultural practices. These practices caution members of the family and the community of
the repercussions of wrongdoings like hurling insults at a person, elopement, mistreating a wife, and
others.
“Bandi” is the obligation required from a man who wants to marry a woman of his desires.

“Magbandi” is the practice of settling the obligation, and it could be in cash or in-kind like cavans of
milled rice and fattened pigs that the family of the bride can use.

“Maglanggad” is a punishment for hurting the feelings of a family, a friend, or a neighbor by an

insult, a rumor, or any other way. When the wrongdoer asks for forgiveness, they are asked for a
"langgad" that may be preparing food for a lunch together with their families.
“Mamahabi” is the practice of formally asking the hand of a girl in marriage which requires that gifts
be given to the bride's parents upon the first meeting. During this meeting, the parents agree upon the
date and scale of preparation and the gifts that the bride's family requires.

“Pahungao," on the other hand, refers to the obligations that a groom who eloped with his bride must
settle before they are forgiven and married. This is less strict because the elders must also consider
that they now must settle peacefully.

Other prominent values. Values like “paglingon sa pinanggalingan” (caring for one's roots), trust in
God, use of herbal medicine, sharing, the pursuit of education, determination, and industriousness are
considered shields of survival because these helped them survive and recover their losses from the
eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

The possible derogatory remarks on Aetas

To begin with, verbal bullying has been the usual complaint of all the Aeta scholars when
they started their college education. "You are just an Aeta. You are not one of us,” is the most
common statement of rejection. “Baluga,” a derogatory term used to describe the Aetas, is what they
are, as rubbed in by the lowlanders. The term was less a matter of name-calling than an insult to their
ethnic identity, and this bullying had debilitating effects that constantly played in their consciousness.
Those disparaging remarks necessarily produced far-reaching psychological effects on the
Aetas and shaped their consciousness and unconsciousness. Their entry into a new world drew undue
attention to themselves. Striving to move onward, they found themselves constantly driven to move
backward by the sadistic scourging even of those considered to be the vanguard of education.
Culturally displaced and psychologically oppressed, they had nothing to fall back on but their
aspirations. The persisting culture of discrimination against the Aetas has always been a social
obstacle, and it used to discourage them. If not overcome, this psychological battering would block
off any desire of these people to rise above the poverty level.
Oddly enough, after getting used to such discrimination, the present-day Aetas developed a
coping mechanism. According to them, they just learned to ignore what they heard and saw because
their aim was to be recognized and successful. The potentially intolerable misery and indignity that
they would suffer could not match their longing for deliverance from their impoverished condition.

Ways to eliminate negative stigmas on Aetas:

Given their values and traditions, as well as their desire to improve their quality of life, the
development of this indigenous community must be pursued "in their originality or within the context
of their ethnic identity." Hence, the following recommendations are drawn:

First, in the formative level of education, the Aeta way of life and history must form part of their
lessons to reiterate their values and self-worth.

Second, indigenous communities may need to draw a `manpower development plan' which could be
the basis of sending able and ready young men and women to study in schools like Sagu-Ilaw, a
program that envisions a system at par with the mainstream education, founded on the ways of life,
traditions and culture of the indigenous people. However, members of the tribe who pursue their
academic degrees need assurance of a job in the villages upon graduation. This may have to be
allotted funds to take effect. This will encourage the younger generation to go back to their barangays
after schooling and not look for work elsewhere.
Third, an indigenous development program may be designed for the communities incorporating
leadership and local governance, adult education with a continuum of literacy to develop resource
management skills, environment-friendly, sustainable, and gender-sensitive agricultural/home
technologies. It may also need to cover culture, leadership principles, localized discussions of rights,
and community development principles to ensure peace and order in the communities.

Fourth, a review of community development approaches in the indigenous community encourages

better participation from the locals and establishes more sustainable programs.

Fifth, collaboration among government, non-government, and education institutions may be coaxed to
exert continuous and documented efforts to develop the Aetas and other indigenous groups of people.

Lastly, related researches are conducted in terms of acceptability of livelihood technologies,

marketing practices and evaluation of programs implemented in the indigenous areas.

In this kind of way, Aetas can not just be recognized by many as someone capable as we are, but also
they can gain the respect and attention that they badly wanted for a long time.

Resources:
https://knepublishing.com/index.php/KnE-Social/article/view/2412/5302
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/janthro/2013/391878/