EDITORIAL

Color-blind

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:15 AM February 12, 2017

You wonder from what depths these crimes spring, what bigoted instincts emerge to grasp the
perpetrators and compel them to inflict unspeakable violence on a young woman deemed
different because of the color of her skin, and then to dispose of her corpse as though it were less
than human.

On Jan. 30, a horrific sight greeted residents of Pastolan Village in Hermosa, Bataanthe
decomposing body of an Aeta woman, 20-year-old Angelique Charlotte Bulatao, wrapped in a
blanket and hanging from a tree. Angelique had been missing for four days, and was last seen
buying barbecue from a stall in the village plaza. She was four months pregnant.

As if the murder were not enough, Angeliques body had been brutalized. Her grandmother,
weeping, said: I cannot believe this happened to her. She was young and she had no enemies.

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Authorities are still investigating. Three persons were reported arrested, but the case remains
frustratingly open. And the crimes have left the residents of Pastolan, by accounts a peaceful
community, afraid for their lives.

The barbaric behavior inflicted on Angelique is plainly the result of Philippine indigenous peoples
being considered the lowest of the low, as though ours were a caste system (and in many ways it
is). As terrible as it is to admit, many Filipinos are still caught in the grip of a racism that properly
belongs to the dark ages. While the Aeta loom large in Philippine prehistory as the true natives of
these islands, folk tales actually picture them as essentially creations mistakes, the figures of clay
left out in the sun too long. And they continue to be treated as mistakes among the rest of usan
attitude that completely flies in the face of our mixed heritage.

The Aeta have been isolated and impoverished, largely left out of the development plans and
projects that benefit their fellow Filipinos. Their communities lack such essentials as electricity or
paved roads. Such is their need that during the yearend holidays, whole Aeta communities travel
from Central Luzon to Metro Manila to beg in large numbers. (It also holds true for other
indigenous peoples in other areas of the country.)

And official oppression is no stranger, against which they have learned to stand their ground. In
2003, for example, 10 Aeta leaders gathered in Angeles City to speak out against Army soldiers
for violating the rights and cultural practices of Aeta in Pampanga and Zambales. They demanded
the withdrawal of the military from their lands, and accused the soldiers of threatening them, and
engaging in illegal searches, seizures and arrests, as well as harassment and food blockades.

Indeed, despite seemingly insurmountable odds the Aeta have found their own ways into the light.
Last year, one of the barefoot doctorsor indigenous people empowered by basic medical
training to save lives in remote villagesincluded 59-year-old Amelia Apang, an Aeta from
Pampanga. She looked forward to returning to her community to put her newfound training to
good use. In 2015, four Aeta grandmothers traveled to India and came back to the country as
trained solar engineers. In the same year, two Aeta who were months-old infants during the
deadly eruptions of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 returned to their people as college graduates ready to
teach others. (Their college education was made possible through scholarships provided by
church and private sponsors.)

The Aeta of Pastolan belong to the Ambala tribe. It is said that they have thrived in the forests of
Subic even before the Spanish and American colonial eras.

The brutal crimes visited on Angelique Charlotte Bulatao show a primitive streak bubbling out of
the muck and bursting through the surface calm. Like a boil, it should be immediately scooped
and rooted out. The process begins with a thorough investigation of the crimes and the swift
prosecution and punishment of her killers. Let justice lead the way to a sea change in attitudes
and the inevitable correctness of being color-blind.