Mabalacat City College

Rizal St. Brgy. Dolores, Mabalacat City

Institute of Arts and Science

A Phenomenological Study on the Contemporary Living Situations of Aetas in Marcos

Village Clark, Pampanga

(Formerly Negrito Village)

S.Y. 2018
Second Semester
In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements in
HISTM10 Ethnic History
Bachelor of Arts Major in History

Submitted by:
Campos, Angela Louise
Santos, Allyssa Anne Nicole
Santos, Erika Shane
Yosuico, Ivy Emmanuela

Submitted to:
Mr. Karlo S. Tolentino, LPT
May, 2018
Introduction:

One of the popular Indigenous Peoples groups in the Philippines is the Negritos or also
known as “Aetas,” and in Mabalacat, Pampanga they are the most famous ethnic minority. They
are mostly residing in mountains but some of them want to be civilized and they decided to resettle
for socialize modern ideas. According to Balilia (2013) defined Indigenous peoples as the
descendants of the inhabitants of a country or a region who are present when people of different
ethnic or cultural origins arrive and later become dominated by more dominant Filipinos who
migrated into the frontier areas in the 20th century.

However, because of their nomadic character in seeking for their food and survival, they
later moved to the uplands and some settled in the far flung areas, and most of them are found in
forested hills on the remote parts of the municipal areas of Mabalacat and Marcos Village in Clark.
These groups of Aetas lived in the hills and forests, and in the interior of the of Mount Pinatubo
and Sitio Haduan.

The researcher focused on the phenomena contemporary living situation of the Aetas in
Marcos Village Clark, Pampanga. Under the observation of the researchers, even Aetas have their
own tradition and culture. They still want to be modernize and influence such as civilize new
technologies and ideas. Furthermore, researchers also revealed that because of their constant
interactions with other ethnic groups, their ways of living, especially on their economic survival
is now starting to change. According Ocampo and Ocampo, 2014, this study was conducted to
determine the economic activities and seasonal activities for survival of this ethnic group.

Before, in their religion they believed to ‘Apu na Malyari’ where they say that was Jesus
Christ, but even if they believed to ‘Apu na Malyari’ they don’t have any statue or something that
they worship. They just calling ‘Apu na Malyari’ when they are farming or needed in some
circumstances. While the other elder Aetas still believed in ‘Anito.’ It is a ritual belief that they
are doing when some of Aetas are sick because they believed that Anito can heal their pain.
Moreover, in their tradition when they reach the teenage life and experienced menstruation.
Aetas decided to get married, because they follow their culture and they never thought about how
education is important to them. They don’t want to exposed themselves because of lack of
confidence. They always put in their minds that Aetas don’t have authority to feel free and
discrimination is always in their life.

When it comes in economic aspects, Aetas are good in weaving and farming. They
commonly use their carabao’s to support them when they are working in the farm. Moreover, Aetas
have their own land that they can be used to support their daily living.

In Political aspects, still remained the perspective of the early Filipinos tradition. They still
asking for the advice and help to the elder Aetas and specially in decision making for the sake of
their tribes. And follows what the leader condemned and acquired the inheritance. Aetas still
believed what will be the decisions of the leader must be approved and attached the unity as one
tribe.

Review of Related Literature

Negrito Religions: Negritos of the Philippine Islands. According to the study of Thomson
Gale (2005), “Negrito Religions: Negritos of the Philippine Islands,” The traditional religion of
all Philippine Negritos is animism. Today, most of them remain animists, although some of their
beliefs have been modified by Roman Catholic Christianity.

Darin Jan Tindowen (2016) The Economic life of the Aetas o Northern Philippines. one
of the bases of economic development is the presence of technology. However, not all
communities and groups can have an access to the different technologies created by man. And
one of these groups is the Aetas of Northern Philippines. This study was conducted to determine
the different economic activities, and seasonal activities for survival of the Aetas. The
participants of the study were the 25 Aeta families of a rural community in Northern Philippines.
In-depth interview, observation, and community immersion were the instruments used by the
researcher. Moreover, key informants and the elders were identified to validate the data gathered
by the researcher.
Methodology:

The researcher will use Qualitative Descriptive Methodology to overview the

Phenomenological Study Living Situations of Aetas in Marcos Village Clark, Pampanga. This
research labels the study of phenomena, grounded theory and ethnography to comprehend the
summarization in specific experienced of individual or group.

This research occupied the traditions, culture, political and economic system of the Aetas
in Sitio Haduan before they went in Marcos Village. They wanted to civilized themselves to
encounter new ideas and modernize technology. Aetas want to make differences of what tradition
they have and in now generation Aetas want a changes to feel the contemporary stylish lifestyle.

. According to Wyse (2011) a qualitative research is primarily exploratory research. It is

used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. The qualitative
approach used in this research because it is mostly about how the participant feels and it is more
on their opinions.

Qualitative descriptive studies are the least “theoretical” of all of the qualitative approaches
to research. This studies are the least free action or different studies. It is useful because it can
easily find some data and it will understand further to identify what will be the outcome of the
research.

Like any other qualitative research design, the goal is to obtain cases considered rich in
information for the purpose of saturating the data. Basic importance is for researchers to be able
to defend their sampling strategies to meet the purposes of their studies.