01 Jun Castro of KAISA UP: “Romanticizing the plight of “Badjao Girl” and her family will do very little difference to the quality of life experienced by indigenous tribes.”
Image Source | manila.coconuts.co
Rita Gabiola, or more popularly known as “Badjao Girl” stormed the social media scene after photos of her begging for alms in the streets of Lucban, Quezon were posted online. Her photos became viral which attracted personalities and institutions giving her and her family donations and other forms of aid.
Meanwhile, Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) National Coordinator Arvin Buenaagua said that, “Members of the Badjao community, like many other indigenous groups in the country, currently face issues of displacement, exploitation and alienation from their very own cultural heritage because of the growing inequalities, violence in their ancestral lands and the destruction of their native environment and livelihood.”
Basing on the data last year, the population of the Badjao community was at 26, 400 scattered across Northern Samar, Eastern Visayas, Capul Island, San Bernardino Strait, and Manila.
As a support to Buenaagua’s statement, Alex Castro of Nagkakaisang Iskolar Para Sa Pamantasan at Sambayanan (KAISA UP) said that, “This leaves open the possibility of members of the tribe, especially children and women, to be subject to exploitation and harassment, not to mention the detachment of younger generations to their well-established traditions and culture. The surrounding hype implies that most people only notice indigenous people when they are photo shoot-material and thus sellable.”
Castro emphasized that “romanticizing” the difficult situation Gabiola and her family is currently facing won’t change the quality of life experienced by indigenous tribes even a bit. She said that, “Since the passage of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act in 1997, no successful attempt has been initiated to address the issue of poverty and exploitation among these nomadic tribes. Not to mention the disenfranchisement of these groups in policies addressing armed violence and environmental destruction in rural and coastal areas of the country.”
Though the act of the individual citizens and the civil society in helping the family of Gabiola were admirable, Castro thought that the government must address the societal realities which put Badjao Girl’s family into such miserable conditions. Just like the inaccessibility of education in all levels to most indigenous people due to the high cost, including discriminatory policies.
“Gabiola’s desire for a quality education is reflective of the desire espoused by all citizens, especially those who see it as a tool for social mobility and self-realization. We cannot simply address this issue by giving out token scholarships, but by providing free education for all citizens, regardless of where they came from and which group they belong to,” told Castro.
Then, Buenaagua lastly added that, “President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, as the first President to hail from Mindanao, must be very familiar with the poverty and violence the indigenous people have to face daily and therefore should prioritize the integration of their issues in the country’s policies on development and peace. This entails a departure from the neoliberal policies espoused by the Aquino government, which Duterte also professed to adopt, putting business interests ahead of the urgent demands of the people and resulting to massive displacement, loss of livelihood and the concentration of wealth to a privileged few.”
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