Friday, November 13, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Focus

BY SAM L. MARCELO, Reporter

Indigenous Olympians

The Aetas were late. Waiting for them at the picnic grounds of the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, were the Mangyans from Mindoro and the Dumagats from Quezon, who were killing time by warming up, stretching, and doing jumping jacks in their loincloths.

A member of the Aeta team competes in the archery event at the Mangyan-Aeta-Dumagat (M.A.D.) Tribal Games -- ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

The home team, as it were, was nowhere to be seen and the finals of the first Mangyan-Aeta-Dumagat (M.A.D.) Tribal Games couldn’t very well start without the indigenous people (IP) of Pampanga. When they finally arrived an hour later, in keeping with Filipino time, one Aeta athlete was dressed in what looked a floral print bed sheet. Was this the reason they were late, one wonders, because the poor guy couldn’t find his traditional costume?

Held on Nov. 6, the M.A.D. Tribal Games assembled the three grand-father tribes -- so called because they are the oldest IPs in the Philippines -- for a day of tribal archery, spear-throwing, and running.

Far from being a simple physical contest where the sharpest of eye, strongest of arm, and fleetest of foot would be recognized, the event, jointly organized by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, listed no less than five goals for itself in its flyer: Promoting sports for all; strengthening the tribes; protecting bio-diversity and natural habitat; developing community conserved areas; preserving cultural heritage for generations to come.

Quite a lot was riding on the shoulders of these tribal athletes.

Enough of basketball already

Thirty years ago, POC board member Colonel Jeff Tamayo, the man behind the games, went up the mountains of Daraitan, Tanay, Rizal -- a place oft-mentioned because of illegal logging activities -- and lived among the IPs. While there, he was astounded by the communal system of the locals and how they lived off the land without abusing it.

"The katutubos (native people) have so much to share. I would sooner build them up and make them strong than rely on Western ways," he said. "Everyone’s looking at basketball and medals; they’ve completely lost the plot."

Instead of chasing gold and courting sports professionals with big egos, Mr. Tamayo believes that more can be gained from supporting marginalized Filipinos and shining a light on their issues -- indeed, everything from ancestral domain to climate change was raised in more than an hour’s worth of speeches during the games’ opening ceremony.

"You cannot separate the katutubos from the environment," Mr. Tamayo pointed out, adding that you could not talk about IP culture and heritage without involving their attitudes towards the earth.

The competition also commemorated the 12^th anniversary of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), which was signed into law on Oct. 29, 2007. "This is about empowerment and bringing back their self-respect, dignity, and integrity," said Guy Hilbero, Mabalacat Aeta Tribal Association founder. "We have a responsibility towards our IP brothers; they have the same rights as we do."

As the arrow flies

With the noon sun bearing down on them, the three tribes’s teams, each composed of 20 athletes, trotted to the competition areas laid out on Clark’s picnic grounds. There were seven events all in all: a three-kilometer relay race; 150-meter sprints for men and women; a spear-throwing contest; tribal target shooting; an archery assault course; and, upon the request of the participants, a tree-top archery challenge.

As expected, the Aetas, who have always used bows and arrows, came out first in the three archery events.

"Talagang magaling ang mga Aeta sa pana," said Narsito David. "Namamana pa rin kami hanggang ngayon at tinuturo namin ito sa mga bata." (The Aeta are really good with the bow. We still go bowhunting and we teach our children how to do it.)

Tim Bismark, competitive archer and sports account specialist for Gandiva, a store that carries archery products, said that the IPs displayed potential despite a limited number of bullseyes and a few erratic shots that missed their targets completely. He pointed that they were using traditional bows and long arrows, which are difficult to control, and that they were more accustomed to moving targets than stationary ones.

Aeta tribal chieftain Danilo Tecson said that they hoped to represent the country in international competitions someday. "Gusto naman namin na makita ng buong bansa at ng buong mundo na magagaling rin kaming mga katutubo," he said. (We want the whole country and the whole world to see that we IPs are also very good.)

The Mangyans, meanwhile, dominated in the relay race, the men’s sprint, and spear-throwing. Despite this stellar showing, Jerry Manalo, member of the Ethnic Regional Consultative Body of Mindoro, mourned that younger generations were forgetting their Mangyan identity.

"Sa pamamagitan ng paligsahang ito, naibabalik namin muli yung mga kulturang medyo nawawala na," he said. "Importante yung mga ganitong palaro kasi yung mga batang Mangyan ngayon, sumasabay na sa mga uso ng Tagalog," (Through these games we are bringing back the culture that is somewhat fading away. These sorts of games are important because the young Mangyans of today would rather act like Tagalogs.]

The Dumagats didn’t go home empty-handed thanks to their female sprinter, who breasted the tape in 15.43 seconds. Their tribal leader, Conching Calzado, said their pacifist nature probably had something to do with their performance. History tells us that the Dumagats retreated into the mountains when foreigners and lowlanders arrived on their land.

"Sa halip na makipagbangga mas gugustuhin naming lumayo. Wala sa aming kultura ang lumaban, ayaw namin na mayroon kaming nasasaktan na damdamin ng iba," she said. "Manalo at di ’man, itutuloy namin ang pagturo ng tradisyonal na bagay dahil ayaw naming mawala ito." (Instead of fighting, we prefer to distance ourselves from conflict. It’s not in our culture to fight and we don’t want to hurt the feelings of other people. Whether we win or lose, we will continue to teach our traditional ways because we don’t want our people to forget.)

Ms. Aeta and Michael Jackson

In the future, the POC and ACB hope to extend the scope of the Tribal Games and include all the IPs in the country. Already, there is talk of inviting other Asian countries to participate in 2010, which has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity.

ACB management specialist Mariliza Ticsay said that sports and biodiversity both have to do with well-being. "The Tribal Games recognize that the IPs have a deep relationship with the environment and that we can learn much from them," she said in the vernacular.

Dressed in jeans and T-shirt, Major Romeo Sibal, a retired member of the Philippine Air Force, watched as his IP brothers paraded around the picnic grounds in tribal wear. He’s proud of his accomplishments and who he is -- Mr. Sibal is one of the first Aetas to assimilate himself and join the professional ranks.

He commented that during his time, it was up to the individual to strive for what he wanted. "Ang problema ngayon, umaasa kami sa labas. Galing dapat sa sarili, bahala ka dapat sa sarili mo." [The problem today is that we depend too much on outside help. It should come from us, we have to be responsible for our own fate.]

Later in the day, a cultural presentation that included a beauty pageant dubbed Ms. Aeta was held. After a string of chants and traditional dances mimicking the movements of the lawin (hawk), unggoy (monkey), and palaka (frog), a boy took the stage for an intermission number. The music that blared on the loudspeakers caught the attention of the crowd and garnered applause -- it was a remix featuring Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Imogen Heap and Michael Jackson.

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