Dumagat tribesmen watch movie for the first time

MARILAO, Bulacan – Dumagat tribesmen may have lived in Bulacan for centuries, but it was only last Tuesday when they were able watch a movie inside a theater.

Martin Francisco of the Lake Galilee of Katribu Foundation told The STAR that some 30 Dumagat tribesmen watched the movie "Agent X-44" at the SM Supermall here on Tuesday morning.

"It was a dream come true for many of them," Francisco said, noting that for more than a decade that he has been working under different non-governmental organizations in the province working among the tribesmen, he has been hearing the same request.

Their dream was fulfilled when the management of the SM Supermall here granted their request to watch a movie. They were also treated to lunch.

Sheryl dela Rama-Baltazar, the supermall’s information officer, said it was the first time in SM’s history that they accommodated a request from a local indigenous community.

SM Supermall chain was first established in 1985.

"This is part of our community service and a way of appreciating every layer of society," she said.

At present, there are more than 3,000 Dumagat tribemesn living in 19 different settlements across the Sierra Madre range in Bulacan.

Historians said that long before the Malays, the predecessors of the Tag-ilogs, which were later known as the Tagalogs, the Dumagat tribesmen used to inhabit the southern plains of Central Luzon, which later became the province of Bulacan.