CAPSTONE PHILIPPINES

IN SUMMARY

 

Commonly referred to as Negritos, Agtas do belong to the Negrito ethnolinguistic group. There are many Agta tribes, scattered over Regions I to V in the island of Luzon. The Mt. Iriga Agtas reside west of Lake Buhi in southern Camarines Sur Bicol Region. The tribe is also on the endangered list, although there are still substantial members remaining (unlike neighbors east of Lake Buhi, the Mt. Iraya Agtas).

 

Agtas are characteristically short, dark-skinned, kinky-haired, thick-lipped, and small-nosed. Their traditional clothing is tapis (skirt) for women and bahag (breechcloth) for men. Today, most Agtas have abandoned their tribal attire for “civilized” clothes. Traditional Agta houses are built in clusters and made from indigenous materials such as bamboo, wood, talahib (cogon), coconut leaves, and abaca bark. Agtas as young as 14 marry the partner chosen by their parents. Hunting is their main means of subsistence. They use pointed sticks called galud to kill birds, wild deer, monkeys, and wild pigs. Agtas exchange part of the meat and some forest products for starchy food and other goods with nearby farmers. Their other traditional means of livelihood are farming and fishing. 

 

The Agtas worship the spirits of their ancestors or Anitos; their rituals include dances and a

depiction of hunting movements. The spiritual, health, livelihood, education, and literacy needs of the Agtas are a big challenge to the government.

 

 

WAY OF LIFE

 

For most of the villagers, the day starts early at 6AM when the sun rises and ends when the sun sets at 8PM. Time doesn't follow structure, and their daily activities are dependent on the movement of the sun.

 

Food is obtained from the things that they plant (such as the nursery), hence the Agta diet is largely plant-based. Because certain types of land are only suitable for certain types of crops, the land in SPA is only suitable to grow limited species of plants. They feel that they have a responsibility to take care of nature, because they depend on her for their survival.

 

In SPA, the land is unsuitable to grow rice, so they sell or exchange their produce for rice in urban Infanta.

 

 

HEALTH

 

In the event of sickness or injury, the Agta villagers possess a vast repository of indigenous knowledge, passed down from generation to generation, on how to treat these ailments accordingly. For different types of disease, the tribe has indigenous knowledge on their various methods of cure.

 

As part of their indigenous education, children are educated on simple remedies and methods to cure illnesses and treat injuries. In the Agta home, mothers know how to treat common maladies such as indigestion, stomach ache, headache, et cetera. More serious cases are directed to the community doctor, charged with the responsibility to handle cases that cannot be treated at home. For cases that are especially severe and cannot be cured with home remedies, or with the help of community doctors, they are sent to the city for treatment.

 

Herbal medicines, revolving around the use of leaves, roots, and bodies or plants are used for first aid. The Agta derive most of their remedies from what is available in nature, venturing to obtain the relevant medicinal herbs in the forest whenever necessary.

 

Community Doctors

 

Treatment by the community doctors are combined with prayers (buga). The Agta have a belief that the community doctors have knowledge (bordering on the spiritual realm) that doctors in hospitals do not necessarily have. For the Agta, ailments and remedies can have other causes not necessarily stemming from the physical. For example, they believe that some individuals in the community have involuntary abilities to cause illnesses in others. If the sick person were to be taken to the hospital and subject to treatment, the unsuitable treatment could result in death. These people with the abilities to cause others to feel ill will also feel ill themselves. Therefore, the role of the community doctor is to identify the individual who caused the sickness in order to have him spit on or touch the sick person. Only then will both parties be cured.

 

The Agta also believe that spirits can cause illnesses in people. To them, elements of nature such as rocks, trees and streams have spirits that can cause illnesses. Therefore, the secondary role of the community doctor would be to figure out (employing various methods by assessing the person's palm or pulse) if the afflicted individual's illness is merely a common ailment, or arising from supernatural causes.

 

 

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

In the past, arranged marriages were the norm, arranged primarily by parents. They can decide on the match at any point in time, as early as when the children are 6 years old. A red ribbon is tied to the girl's neck to show that she has been "reserved". Marriage can take place once menstruation starts.

 

Today, however, mothers in the community are more educated on the health risks of early pregnancies and the challenges that young mothers face. The women in the community, now more connected to the outside world, sometimes attend seminars and lectures pertaining to health concerns and practices with regard to family planning and pregnancy. Informed of the risks, they are more inclined to discontinue the practice of early arranged marriages. While there are still cases of minors who get married in their community, these are rare nowadays.

 

In arranged marriages, the parents try to pair their children with those who are not close family, because marriage between two people within the 3rd degree of separation is taboo in Filipino culture. The average age of marriage is 15 and above. Preferably, the man should be about three years older than the woman. It is usually preferred that the man is older but exceptions do exist. Parents are charged with the autonomy to decide when their children get married - if they decide that their children are old enough and responsible enough to have a family, show respect, do household chores and can be providers for another family, they give the final go-ahead.

 

Courtship

In some communities, a courtship ritual exists where the man who likes the girl will do chores for the family of the girl. He keeps doing this until his dedication eventually wins the girl's heart. Sometimes, the family may not approve of the marriage, but with sustained sincerity on the man's part, they may eventually accept him. Such a practice tests the patience, endurance and sincerity of the prospective husband, qualities that are valued.

 

Children and Family

With regard to family size and children, there is no limit or rule. Families can have as many children as they deem fit, though larger families are generally favoured to people their large ancestral domain. 

 

They also have herbal contraceptives.

 

 

 RELIGION

 

 

Previously, the Agtas worshipped the spirits of their ancestors or Anitos; their rituals include dances and a depiction of hunting movements. Nowadays, however, many of them practice Catholicism due to colonial influences. Catholicism was introduced from the lowlands. When the Agta came across festivals (fiesta), baptisms, masses, they were eventually influenced into the mainstream religion of the lowlwands. Children are baptised in the Catholic Church.

 

 

EDUCATION

 

 

Most indigenous knowledge is taught to the children by their families. Schools mainly serve to deepen their knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is highly emphasised, hence they also have a subject specially dedicated to this.

 

Children are taught to construct houses, weave, hunt and fish from a young age in school. SPA also imparts essential values important to the Agta culture, such as giving without asking for anything in return, or helping others without waiting to be asked.

 

SPA follows the curriculum  from the Department of Education. Science, Math, and English are among the included, but these are combined with traditional teaching. They call this subject “Indigenous Knowledge, Practices and Spirituality. The syllabus for this subject is created by local teachers. SPA prefers to employ local Agta teachers because for young children in the prepatory level, it is important for the teachers to be able to speak the local Agta dialect. 

 

Not unlike our own assessments in school, the children at SPA also have "practical learning" modules. For example, when learning to fish, the children will head down to the rivers with ther elders to practice the skill.

 

Scholarships

 

The Tribal Development Centre offers scholarships to deserving students of SPA. As of now, there are a few scholars in high school and university (26 in high school, 4 in university). Due to limited resources, only the top students get the scholarships, with a quote of 2 scholars imposed on each family. In making their decision, TDC also assesses if parents earn enough money. For university scholarships, the students are only allowed to take courses for teaching or agriculture, because expertise in these areas is what is needed in the village.

 

If they see that a student has potential to be a lawyer, however, support will also be given because there is a big issue with the legalities concerning the ancestral domain. A lawyer from their community would be able to defend them legally. Scholars are also bonded, required to go back to community and serve.

 

 

LEADERSHIP

 

Elders are charged with the decision-making authority to appoint the next chieftan, usually based on ability. The elders choose qualified recipients, then the community decides among the candidates. Bloodline does matter when it comes to the decision-making process - close family members of the previous chieftan are more likely to become the next chieftan.

 

There are chiftans to represent every community. In the region or province, there is a council of elected chieftans headed by a governor, charged with the responsibility to look into the affairs and concerns of all the tribes in the province.

 

The chieftan steps down arbitrarily.

 

CHALLENGES AND CHANGE

 

The Agta Tribe has been suffering many years of discrimination from the local government and the larger population from the lowlands/ urban centers. What they want and need more than anything is advocacy and greater recognition and respect of their rights to their ancestral domain. They place value in education because they firmly believe that it is their ticket to self-empowerment, so that they can lift themselves out of the disadvantaged position they constantly find themselves in, in various land and rights disputes with the government and the lowlanders. 

 

Agta generally face discrimination due to their differet physical feature: darker skin, kinky hair, a different smell. One of the biggest issues facing the indigenous peoples, however, are legal matters concerning the rights to their ancestral domain. In the Philippines, tribes are designated with fixed ancestral domains. Previously, lowlanders would intrude into this territory and exploit the rich natural resources in the domain, whilst at the same time exploting the indigenous peoples for labour. Due to their comparative lack o education and representation, they were largely unable to defend themselves and protect their rights.

 

In addition, the Agta are dumagats, or nomads. Depending on the agricultural season, they move from place to place. Often upon returning to their original territory (after a period of prolonged movement around the area), they find that their territory taken over by lowlanderes taking advantage of their absence to assert territorial claims on their land. In response to this, the Agta have now spread out and established permanent dwellings in various areas to consolidate control of their ancestral domain.