The Ati of Naga: Fighting to keep culture alive

CEBU, Philippines - Their ancestors were the first tribe to settle in the Philippines thousands of years ago, but like sand castles that crumble when hit by seawater, the unique “Ati” culture in Naga is said to be slowly fading away through time.

Lilia Sanger, chieftain of the Ati tribe in barangay South Poblacion, City of Naga, has personally witnessed how rarely her own language is spoken, their own rituals no longer practiced and their own color slowly paling as the younger generation intermarry with the non-Ati. Reality cannot be denied. Their culture is slowly dying.

Sanger blames no one in particular for what is happening, but she appeals to the younger Ati to still keep their traditions being the only keeper of these once the older ones like herself, would be gone. A lot may have changed since they left their native town: men no longer wearing the traditional loin cloth and women discarding their “tapis” for modern clothing, and most of them were converted into Christianity; but some traditions have to be kept to save the Ati culture, said Sanger.

“Problema na na ron nga ang mga bata dili na kahibalo mag-Inati (the Ati's dialect). Ang mga batan-on dili na pud kahibalo sa mga ritwal kung naay mamatay. Unsaon nalang kung mawa naming mga tiguwang, buhaton gyud na kay maningil ra ba ang mga espiritu,” Sanger said in halting Bisaya.

Sanger, 57, explained she could not blame the Ati children if they don't speak their mother tongue anymore, as they also have to learn Bisaya, the language of their playmates in school. “Dili man sad nimo mabadlong ang mga bata kung ig-uli gikan sa eskwelahan mag-Binisaya kay mao man na ilang gamiton didto sa eskwelahan. Asta na hinuon ang mga dagko mag-Binisaya na lang pud,” Sanger said.

The Ati used to pray in front of a tree or anywhere, Animism being their religion, asking for help from the spirits. But that was long ago. In the Ati community in Naga, there are two chapels - one for the Catholics, and another for the members of the Bible Baptists. The adults have long since given up their Ati names like Sanger's husband Kalumbuyan, who was baptized as “Manuel” when he decided to become a Catholic; while Sanger and their four children are Baptists.

Even among the adults, only a few speak Inati, Sanger said

According to history, the Ati or the “Aetas,” black and kinky-haired, were the first inhabitants of the Philippines, (reportedly predating the Bisaya of the Visayas), first settling in Borneo about 30,000 years ago. During the Spanish colonization, the tribe made contact with the conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and became part of his conquest of Panay Island, where some of them have stayed and lived. Over the years, the Ati have made small territories all over the country.

Sanger's ancestors were among those who have lived in the mountain area of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo province. But poverty drove them to other areas. Sanger said the government provided them land in Barotac Viejo but certain ground rules prevented them from using the land for farming, hence they were forced to leave their native land to survive. “Gihatagan mi og yuta sa gobyerno pero dili man ipaguba, dili pwede tanuman bisag unsa. Kung naa mi tanum nga saging, puso pa lang kan-on man sad sa unggoy. Ninaug na lang mi kay dili mi mabuhi didto,” Sanger said. She said they moved farther down to where they could plant root crops and sell herbal medicine (something they are known for) to survive. For the same reason, the tribe kept moving from one place to another in the islands of Negros, until fate brought them to the upland area of  Naga, Cebu in 2000.

Sanger said when they decided to settle here, where they earned better than anywhere else they have been. In Cebu, their men were hired as construction workers and when they were out of work, their women would sell herbal medicine during town fiestas and in the public markets of Cebu City.

In 2002, the local government of Naga, then headed by the late Mayor Ferdinand Chiong, relocated the Ati community to Barangay South Poblacion, where they were allowed to build houses and chapels. The present administration of Mayor Valdemar Chiong, the late mayor's younger brother, has also assured that the Ati community will not be evicted from Naga. Chiong, however, said he may relocate them to a safer place, since that coastal area in South Poblacion is a “hazard zone,” which gets flooded during high tide. “If we can find another place for them, we will relocate them,” Chiong assured the Ati.

The National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) provided the Ati community with income generating opportunities - pedicabs (trisikad) and hogs to be raised. The NCIP also helped the male Ati to get jobs in the government of Naga. The livelihood projects, however, did not work out for most of the Ati families, as, Sanger said, since they live near the sea, the trisikad units were easily eaten by rust and became useless. Raising hogs also did not progress as most of those who availed of the program could not afford to buy feeds for the animals. Instead of letting the animals die, Sanger said they were just sold early on.  “Maglisud man gani og pakaon sa ilang mga anak ang baboy pa kaha. Gibaligya nalang nila,” she said. Only Sanger's family was able to sustain the hog-raising business. Sanger said while her family is lucky to have saved up enough from her late husband's income while he was still alive to start up a small convenience store where she gets the money to buy the feeds, most of her tribemates still live on what little they get from selling herbal medicine.

The Naga government employed the male Ati, but only a few of them stuck to their jobs. Sanger reasoned it was not because they were lazy, they just could not wait for 15 days to get their salary. “Dili na sila kahuwat og dugay maong nangundang ug naninda na lang og tambal kay bahala'g usa o duha kakilo ra nga bugas ilang makuha, maayo na lang na kay naay makaon ilang pamilya,” she shared.

Sanger used to sell herbal remedies like “bugokag,” “himughat,” dried flying lizard (reportedly a cure for asthma), which they personally prepare themselves, until her husband, Manuel, the former chieftain, died last year, and all his duties were left to her care.  Her niece, Baby Tulod, 23, and her other relatives are still actively in this trade, being the only means of earning, while their husbands are still not hired to do hard labor in construction sites. Tulod, who is pregnant with her second child, said she usually earns P200 per day or less; she uses the money for food for her family. Tulod's family is composed of her jobless husband, their one-year-old child, her Aunt and her 12-year-old son, and four little cousins.

“Naanad naman mi og ginamos, bulad. Basta naa lay kan-on,” Tulod said.

Tulod's aunt, Rosemarie Arpon, who works as a laundry woman for her sister, the chieftain, said she is used to seeing dried fish or bagoong in their table each time, but she admitted missing real meat like that of “haw” (monitor lizard) and “bao” (turtles), which they used to hunt abundantly in Antique. Arpon said she was surprised to learn that it is illegal to hunt and eat these animals, when they could freely do it where she comes from. And since they could not freely hunt in Cebu, except for the flying lizards they get in the upland areas, their little income goes straight to food allocation.

“Akong iampo sa Ginoo nga dili lang masakit kay wa mi kwarta para ipada sa doctor,” Arpon said, adding that her own husband died at an early age because of some illness.

But despite of their simple life, Arpon said she considers it better than what she used to have while in Barotac Viejo. Arpon and her son share their small nipa hut with her four grandchildren (from her late sister) and Tulod's family. They don't have a television set, that their children have to go to their neighbor's house to watch TV programs.

But poverty is the least of all of their problems, said Sanger, adding that they have long been used to being poor. “Mabuhi naman lang sad. Antos lang jud ba. Sa bagay wala man mi naanad og lami nga pagkaon. Dili lang mo handum og wala,” she said. Although Sanger said she still has hopes that the adults could get stable jobs despite their lack of education, so that they could send their children to college, especially that the highest education that their tribemates have attained so far is high school. But then again, it may no longer be an impossible dream to the Ati now that the city, in which the adults are registered voters, offers college scholarships.

What really concerns Sanger, now that she is getting really old and may no longer be there to set things right for her community, is their culture slowly slipping out of their midst. Sanger said she could still fluently speak Inati and even gave a sample to The Freeman special report team, and how she still can gracefully dance the Ati-atihan like how they did it in Iloilo; but she does not know if her own children and grandchildren could still do those things once she is gone.

 â€œKung mang eskwela among mga anak siguro molambo among tribu. Pero akong gipangandoy nga dili lang unta mausab among kultura, nga mag pabilin kini. Akong gi ingnan akong mga bata nga dili nato kalimtan kung unsa ta, kay kita ang unang tawo diri sa Pilipinas,” she said.

After spending the day in the streets selling their herbal medicines, the adult Ati would usually converge in wooden benches in their community to talk with other tribe mates or just enjoy chewing “nganga” (betel nut), another favorite past-time of indigenous people like the Ati. This was the scene witnessed by The Freeman during the interview. However, while the adults were doing their usual thing, nearby, their young children were talking about Temple Run 2. - /QSB (FREEMAN)