Our Trip

Wednesday, April 12, 2017, 7:00 AM.

From Puerto Princesa City we proceed by local commercial transport (12 passenger van) for the approximately one-hour journey north along Puerto Princesa North Road to the Batak Tribal Center. This is a small two building roadside complex that marks the entry-way to the first Batak village. The person in charge of the Batak Center, Rosafil Rodriguez Delos Angeles, drove up on her motorbike to greet us. She had arranged for our guide, Rosendo Rodriguez, not Batak, but well versed in their culture and traditions. He was previously employed by a local city Major but lost his job when his boss was not reelected.

Ms. Delos Angeles seemed hesitant as she revealed that in order to reach the first village we must complete a one-hour journey by foot, crossing several bridges and ford several streams. I assured her that would not be a problem. Off we went!

As forewarned, we crossed several bridges and were required to ford several above-ankle deep streams.  We then proceeded along well-worn footpaths to arrive at our final destination.

The Batak people have for centuries combined a hunting-gathering lifestyle with seeding of useful food plants, kaingin (a slash and burn farming method), and trading. It is believed that they may have had trading relations with Chinese merchants as early as 500 AD.

During the mid to late-20th century emigrant farmers who mostly came from Luzon displaced the Batak peoples from their preferred gathering grounds. Since then, after settling in less fertile areas, they have attempted to supplement their income by harvesting and selling various non-timber forest products, such as rattan, tree resins, and honey. However, this has been met with resistance by the government and commercial concessionaires who assert that the Batak have no legal right to these natural resources. Conservationists have taken an interest in the Batik’s methods for collecting natural resources and found them to be much more sustainable than the techniques used by commercial concessionaires.

The Batak, previously a nomadic people, at the behest of the Philippine government, have since settled in small villages. However, they still often go on gathering trips into the forest for a few days at a time, an activity that has both economic and spiritual value for them. Their belief system is that of animism, a belief in spirits that reside in nature[ii] Called “Panyeon”[3], are generally suspicious of humans but are tolerant of them, as long as people don’t abuse or waste the resources of the forest. Other spirits, called “Diwata” are generally benevolent. All are capricious. Batak make regular offerings to these spirits, and Shamans undergo spiritual possession in order to communicate with the spirits and heal the sick[iii]. Rapid depopulation, restricted forest access, sedentary living, and incursion by immigrants have devastated the group culturally. Today, very few Batak marry other Batak but tend to marry from other neighboring groups. The pattern has been that the children of these marriages tend not to follow Batak cultural ways, and today ‘pure’ Batak are rare. As a result, Batak are being absorbed into a more diffuse group of upland indigenous peoples and are slowing losing their tribal identities, and with it their unique spirituality and culture. There is speculation as to whether or not they still exist as a distinct ethnic entity.

Report

As previously mentioned, the Batak, a previously nomadic people, relented this aspect of their lifestyle at the behest of the Philippine government. They have now largely settled into villages. This has improved their access to healthcare and to immunizations, and has eliminated previous efforts by the government to locate them in the forest. This has caused trepidation among some tribal members who feel their traditions and cultural are rapidly being eroded; now feeling confined within unfamiliar conditions and circumstances and no longer able to freely roam to commune in traditional manners with nature, i.e., their natural-host environment.

Tourism presents a special challenge to indigenous peoples and their lifestyle. Many who arrive are curious about how so-called “primitive” people live and survive, and are often ill prepared to accept the basic and natural ways in which indigenous peoples live their lives. Therefore the tourist may disrespect indigenous peoples’ systems of values that the people themselves consider of prime importance to their way of life. Having one’s dignity insulted can be a bitter experience, but often the chance for economic benefit will require stoic toleration; a contrariety.

Immediately upon arriving in the village I sought to become acquainted with its leaders, principally, the Headman (Chief) and the Shaman (deals with herbal remedies and supernatural forces), as they are deeply respected by the villagers and hold sway over local activities and events. With our guide as interrupter, I first spoke with the Shaman, asking him about the ceremonies he performs, healing the sick and herbal (names and locations) remedies used and method of preparation. He told me that he did not perform many ceremonies, but he did play a part in marriages and the burial of the departed. For the latter, he stated that there were no particular rituals but he did pass a ‘smoke offering’ over the body of the deceased. Concerning herbs, he went over to his carrying bag to fetch something and when he returned he presented me with two twigs (or roots) as examples of the type of herbs he used. In fact, the mother of the young child seen above was sick with flu. She and one other were sick that day and he had been asked to treat both of them.

However, there is one young wife that the Shaman could not help. She, now between fifteen and seventeen years of age, suffers from effects of extreme trauma combined with acute depression due to the lost of her first child when giving birth, and to such extent that she has since lost the ability to speak.

The Shaman and I, along with some others, enjoyed merriment that resulted in handshakes and shoulder patting. The price for photos was set at 50 Pesos, during which time he said that he spoke no English and conveyed his price to me through our guide. When the photo taking was finished evidently he thought I had forgotten to pay him so he looked at me and spoke one word in English, “Money!”. I immediately looked him in the eye and laughed, told him “Your English is very good”, then paid the amount owed. He responded with a smile and bright tinkling in his eyes. He then said with great sincerity that he was very comfortable with me. After more joking and handshakes it came time for us to depart.

Links

Follow the links below to learn more about indigenous people and efforts being made by them and others on their behalf to preserve their way of life and also to guard against extinction.

Footnotes

[1] Batak (Palawan), Tinitian or Tinitiane (Philippine people). Ethnology—Philippines…
[2]The Andaman Islands form an archipelago in the Bay of Bengal between India, to the west, and Myanmar, to the north and east. Most are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India, while a small number in the north of the archipelago, including the Coco Islands, belong to Myanmar…
[3]Those who believe in ‘gods of a people’; and especially to those whom the tribe ‘officially’ recognize.

Endnotes

[i] The appropriateness of using the label “Negrito” to bundle together peoples of different ethnicity based on similarities in stature and complexion is being strongly challenged. Much clearer distinctions and more appropriate methods are now made to distinguish peoples and ethnic classifications. This will counter centuries of misperceptions still in vogue by providing more complete knowledge and understanding of human Etymology. The Negrito consists of several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia. Their current populations include Anadamanese peoples (Anadaman Islands), the Semang of Malaysia, the Maniq people of Thailand, and the Aeta people, Ati people, and 30 other ethnic groups in the Philippines.

The Negrito peoples show strong physical similarities with the Pygmy peoples of Africa but are genetically closer to surrounding Southeast Asian populations. They may be descended from ancient Australoid-Melanesian settlers of Southeast Asia, or represent an early split from the southern coast migrants from Africa. Etymology, the word “Negrito” is the Spanish diminutive of Negro, used to mean “little black person”. This usage was coined by 16th-century Spanish missionaries operating in the Philippines, and was borrowed by other European travellers and colonialists across Southeast Asia to label various peoples perceived as sharing relatively small physical stature and dark skin. Contemporary usage of an alternative Spanish epithet, Negrillos, also tended to bundle these peoples with the pygmy peoples of Central Africa, based on perceived similarities in stature and complexion. Historically, the label Negrito has occasionally been used also to refer to African Pygmies.

[ii]Animism is the world’s oldest religion, the oldest known type of belief system in the world that even predates paganism (represents a wide variety of traditions (or “paths”) that emphasize reverence for nature and a revival of ancient polytheistic religious practices). Animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the belief system of many indigenous tribal peoples. Animism teaches that objects, places, and creatures all possess distinctive spiritual qualities. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handy work, and perhaps even words—as animate and alive.

Animism encompasses the beliefs that all material phenomena have agency, that there exists no hard and fast distinction between the spiritual and physical (or material) world, and that the soul or spirit or sentience (able to perceive or feel things) exists not only in humans, but also in other animals, plants, rocks, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment, including thunder, wind, and shadows. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, ‘animism’ is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples’ ‘spiritual’ or ‘supernatural’ perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most animistic indigenous peoples that they often do not have a word in their languages that corresponds to ‘animism’, or even ‘religion’. Animism is still practiced in a variety of forms in many traditional societies. The term is purely an anthropological construct.

[iii]Batak Deities (major)
• Maguimba – Who in remotest times lived among the people, having been summoned by a powerful babaylan, and he supplied all the necessities of Batak life, as well as all the cures for illness. He even had the power to bring the dead back to life.
• Diwata – Provided for the needs of men and women, and gives out rewards for good deeds. Sanbay is a ritual in honor of Diwata, who is asked by the people to bless them with generous harvests of palay (unhusked rice) and honey. This ritual takes place inside a forest, about 2–3 km from the beach. Two huts are constructed for the ritual. Palay is placed in one of the huts. A replica of a beehive, meanwhile, is situated in another small hut. Prayers are recited to Diwata by the babaylan, after which the people in attendance gather together in festive eating, drinking, and dancing.
• Angoro – Lives in Basad, a place beyond this world where the souls of the dead go, and it is there where they come to know if they are to proceed to Lampanag (heaven) or be cast into depths of the Basad, where fire and boiling water await these hapless ones.

There are also lesser gods in the Batak pantheon. Some are Siabuanan, Bankakah, Paraen, Buengelen and Baybayen, considered deities having great strength. Some others include:
• Batungbayanin – Spirit of the mountain(s).
• Paglimusan – Spirit of the small stone(s).
• Balungbunganin – Spirit of the almaciga tree(s).
• Sulingbunganin – Spirit of the big rock(s).

Credits

Photos by Ailyn Randolph.