Easter College Incorporated

Easter School Road Guisad, Baguio City

Senior High School Department

In partial fulfilment of the subject

Understanding Culture Society, and Politics

Section: Grade 12 – Block F

Submitted by: Garcia, Kenneth

Respicio, Kaycee

Submitted to: Sir Renante Lamoste

December 09, 2019

 INTRODUCTION

There was a time when their highways were rivers and seas. When skyscrapers

were the impressive mountains, when entertainment is watching the ever-changing sky.

As time passed the world around us slowly change. But there are few places that remain

an untouched paradise, a place where people have preserved their way of life. They are

called, The Agta in Peñablanca.

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. They have no formal leaders. The old

mals in their community only serve as consultants for arbitration purposes.

The original inhabitants of the Philippines were small black people, now called

“negritos”. Around 2,000 years ago the ancestors of most Filipinos came to the Philippines

from what is now Malaysia and/or Indonesia. They overran the original inhabitants such

that today the “negritos” consist of an extremely tiny portion of the Philippine population

of over 80 million people, and they live in very marginal or remote areas. There are about

a dozen such people groups that have their own totally distinct languages, cultures, and

geographic areas. The East Cagayan Agta.

The Dupaninan Agta might possibly be the most remote or isolated of these

groups. There are perhaps 1000-2000 of them, but that is a very rough estimate at best.

The Dupaninan Agta have an egalitarian society, with no formal leaders. Typically, if a

couple of leading men in a community get into a conflict, the community will split, and half

will go live elsewhere.

 BODY

Sitio Buyag is one of the farthest sitios in Peñablanca Cagayan. Hidden behind lush

mountains, it is the home of the Agta Tribe. In order to get to the far sitio, one must

traverse the wide river. This serves as their highway. This river can be challenging

because of its varying depths. There are huge rocks and there are deep parts. If you don't

have a boat, you can also use a rubber raft. But like any road, the path is not always

smooth.

Sitio Buyag is a small city, there was no electricity and no school in sight, but the

place lights up with smiles of Agtas. Whatever they lacked in technology; they make up

for in the beauty of their surroundings. Until now, the Agtas live by hunting for food in

the forests or in the rivers.

As darkness set in, the Agtas made a bonfire beside the river, it was not a group

gathering for a small celebration but, they were preparing their spears and masks.

Because they had no catch during the day, the Agtas will be diving in the middle of the

night. Because the place had no electricity, drying is the usual method they learned from

their ancestors. Because Agtas are nomadic in nature, they spent the night beside the

river. When they will sell eel or their products, only one jeep travels from the mountain

where we came from to the town of Peñablanca.

So, most of the locals take advantage of this trip to transport their products. The

trip would take more than four hours before they reach town. Apparently in this

community, one man's earning is everyone’s earning, because that’s what the Agtas

believe in, they are all equal, there is no rich or poor.

CONCLUSION

In the world where the gap between the rich and the poor has grown wider, it is

easy to say that the Agtas are at the bottom rung of society. They may not have roads or

highways, but each of them has built paths of generosity. They may not have electricity

and television, but their culture shines in their daily lives. There are no mansions, no
flashy cars, but in the company of Agtas, no one is left behind because everyone is equal.

They are often called ignorant and primitive, but who is more civilized?

Each indigenous community is different. But all indigenous communities struggle

for the right to self-determination and to their ancestral domain. But different laws

protecting them, must be effectively implemented considering the existence of other laws

that violate the rights of indigenous peoples. Finally, the resolution of the problems of the

indigenous peoples relates to the elimination of the deep- seated discrimination against

them, a task that remains difficult to achieve. We strongly believe that these reaction

paper calls for stronger appreciation and respect for the rich tradition and extraordinary

lives of today’s indigenous people in the Philippines. Agtas of Cagayan just proves our

modern society that they also provide complexities which shows the diverse and culturally

rich lives of the various indigenous tribes in the Philippines. Through their rich and

compelling differences, every one of them depicts how the Filipino indigenous groups

maintain their traditions but also adapt to a globalized society.

REFERENCE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R4CNnsJlPM