Aetas to claim own 'ancestral domain'?

CLARK FIELD (PLDT/WeRoam) — When the imperious Gen. Douglas MacArthur still walked these parts, he issued orders that all Balugas (Aetas to textbook worms) be given free access to the mighty American air base here, and more.

Access meant that nobody, neither the military police nor civilian guards, messed with the short, black, kinky-haired negritos. They ambled in and out of the installation like they owned the place.

Balugas never used gate passes required of outsiders entering the tightly-secured base of the US 13th Air Force. Their distinctive look, at times accented by a g-string, was all they needed to identify them.

They were entitled to full medical care in the Clark hospital, then the biggest and best-equipped in the region. It was not unusual to see a Baluga in pain wheeled in, grimy and unshod, and given the same attention that an ailing or wounded American GI would get.

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EXPLOITED: The unlettered Baluga were also granted exclusive rights to mine the huge dump where the junk and discards of wasteful Americans were thrown.

Chinese scrap dealers pre-purchased at ridiculously low prices the surplus and reusable trash carted out in groaning “weapons carriers.” That saw the beginning of the off-base surplus and PX (post exchange) trade in Mabalacat, mainly in barrio Dau.

Some Balugas toted bows and arrows, but still were issued weapons to help guard the base whose perimeter fence was not enough deterrent to pilferers. Now and then, one spotted a Baluga with a Garand M-1 rifle that stood taller than him.

The more seasoned hunters among them were recruited as instructors for American and visiting allied forces training at Clark in jungle lore and survival. (They still do at Subic 30 minutes away.)

One could bump into a Baluga surnamed Magsaysay. No, the late President Ramon Magsaysay did not, huh, sow wild oats in the jungle. Balugas just worshiped their fellow Zambaleno and not a few adopted his family name.

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NEXT FRONTIER: All this is being recalled, because Balugas are again at the crossroads of Clark’s development. Unaware of the implications of being overtaken by progress, they may again be exploited or short-changed.

With the full occupancy of the Clark Freeport’s core area of 4,400 hectares sprawled around the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and the adjacent leisure parks, authorities are now looking northward for more room for growth.

And a choice spot in what the planners call the “Next Frontier” in the Bamban town of Tarlac (plus a small part in Mabalacat) happens to be a thriving 675-hectare Baluga village in the Sacobia area.

Benny Ricafort, president and chief executive of the Clark Development Corp. overseeing work on the 30,000-hectare subzone, said they want to integrate the ethnicity and livelihood of Aetas into the grand design.

The difficult task requires an inter-agency multi-disciplinary approach.

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LANDGRABBERS: The first order of business, I think, is to immediately stop incursion into Sacobia. A task force should make a quick census and compare demographic data with those gathered five and 10 years ago.

The idea is to clearly delineate — primarily in terms of area and population — what could blow up into another contentious “ancestral domain” issue.

There are 1,866 Aeta households in 12 sitios there, 32 percent of them being “kulot.” The term refers to tribesmen sporting short kinky hair, as opposed to the “unat” whose hair has grown longer and straighter over years of intermarriages.

Expect carpetbaggers — some of them with politicos behind them — to suddenly appear (if they have not come in yet) to grab as much Aeta land as they possibly can occupy, plant and fence. Kick them out!

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BASIC SERVICES: Although MacArthur was impressed by the simple yet hardy Aetas, the fact is that these aborigines are helpless by themselves.

So — as Magsaysay said “he who has less in life must have more in law” — the government must step in with affirmative action to tilt the balance in their favor.

I would not be surprised if there are already radical elements indoctrinating Balugas on their, you guessed it!, ancestral domain and their rights as an ethnic minority.

Before Aetas are lost to provocateurs and landgrabbers, and even before CDC steps up in earnest its Next Frontier agenda, the government must maximize and speed up its services in education, public health, livelihood, housing and utilities, and roads.

The rest will follow easily after that foundation is laid — fast.

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TRIBAL TRIP: “Ancestral domain,” however, is not likely to be a springboard for a separate state for Aetas. They are not warlike or that sophisticated. They are not armed to the teeth and aided by foreign sympathizers the way Moros are.

Ancestral land development models that come to mind are the autonomous reservations of American Indians whose tribal rights had been recognized by legislation and affirmed by judicial decisions.

The Baluga village in the Clark subzone could be, or should be, recognized as tribal or ancestral land. The natives must be given a meaningful measure of autonomy, and assistance, as a matter of right.

The dozen Aeta sitios can be integrated into a tourism-commercial (not industrial) complex. Like the Indians, they can be assisted in operating a casino, bingo arcade and specialty shops to raise revenue for a self-sustaining reservation.

The tribal villages must be restored, without despoiling the ecosystem, to mirror their ethnic mores in pre-hispanic times. With their casino and leisure amenities, they can be marketed as a unique tourism-shopping destination.

And, this is important: In this preliminary stage, we should fend off interlopers, squatters, fake Aetas and such shady characters.

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