Of Aetas and Of Ifugaos

The latest graphic quickly circulating on social media allegedly a page of a textbook used in the public school system here in the Philippines had me scrambling to the library to see if there indeed are literature to support it. The visual points that Banaue, Ifugao is the place of Aetas.

Banaue is within 25 kilometer radius from my native Mompolia. My wife's birthplace was once part of Banaue. So if the info on the graphic is true, then chances are the Aeta blood is flowing in my veins and my children are more Aeta than me.

I think I have once read that Aetas indeed treaded the mountains near my place of birth. Or was I just imagining? My trip to the library should help me.

I could still recall from grade school days hearing about "Ita" in Sibika at Kultura. They live in other provinces, not Ifugao. They're at mountains which is why sometimes we tease our classmates who live farther up the mountains than most of us to be Itas. But that was not to mock the race but rather it was just the playful child in each of us which would be different story when all of us have grown up.

The trip to the library had me open up the book "The Ifugao World" by Mariano Dumia, a Philippine diplomat and a full-blooded Ifugao. The closest I could see on the Banaue - Aeta connection is a page of his book on the theory by renowned anthropologists which says that the earliest inhabitants of the mountain regions of Northern Luzon were the bow-and-arrow carrying Negritoes who migrated to this parts through land bridges that once existed on the now big bodies of water that separates this country from mainland Asia. They were pushed to live in the mountains by another group of migrants who then occupied the lands they previously occupied on the plains. The author even quoted the writing of an anthropologist who particularly mentioned the present day Ifugao as among the regions where the Negritos settled. Negritoes is a broad classification that would include the Aetas. The book of course also mention other theories that would debunk the migration theory as described.

At any rate, except for the commonplace teasing of children on their contemporaries, present day inhabitants of Banaue or any other part of Ifugao do not refer to themselves as Negritoes or Aetas. They would refer to themselves as I-Fannawor, I-Mayawyaw, I-Bunne, Ikiangan and many others to indicate the place where they came from. Or Tuwali, Ayangan, Hanglulo, and many more to indicate the language they speak. This is the reason why there was a lot of indignation against that graphic which is allegedly included in school materials.

I think the irateness of social media posts against that visual endeavors to convey the message that we are Ifugaos, we have our own cultural characteristics to be proud of. This is certainly fairness too for Aetas for truly, they must have their own culture to be exultant about.

(The accompanying photos are some throwbacks - the first taken during an event here in my workplace, the second was me as a participant in a conference, the third is my ID in my last semester in college, and the fourth was after a dance presentation during a gathering of accountants.)