Caragan (or Carangan, Garagan) of Mabalacat is acknowledged as the first Aeta chieftain of the town in 1768. He married a fellow Aeta with the Christianized name of Laureana Tolentino, who went on to become Mabalacat’s first female cabeza de barangay. On 28 February 2008, to honor the Negrito chieftain of Mabalacat, the 1st Caragan Festival was held to cap the month-long town fiesta celebration. The festival, akin to Cebu’s Sinulog, Bacolod’s MassKara and Iloilo’s Dinagyang, featured festive street dancing, colorful Baluga costumes and “uling” (charcoal) face swiping. In 2016, a statue of Caragan was installed at municipal city grounds.
The 3rd world Olympics coincided with the holding of the 1904 St.Louis World's Fair. So, a sporting event was organized with international cultural minorities culled from the Fair, who competed in several running, climbing and throwing competitions at the "1st Anthropological Games". Winning 1st place in the Pole Climbing Competition was BASILIO, a Filipino Negrito, who climbed the pole in 20,25 secs. His performance was recognized as a "marvelous performance at pole climbing ever witnessed in this country" and that the times in this particular event were praiseworthy and worthy of a record".. In second place was another Negrito, Sayas, who timed in at 42.25 secs.
In 1922, Gen. Johnson Hagood took command of Camp Stotsenburg and met with Negritos up close. He found the Negritos and their lifestyle so fascinating that he even wrote about them in his memoirs, Gen. Hagood was most amused with the Baluga chief, “Lucas”, who once presented himself to him arrayed as “a brigadier general in a miniature khaki uniform wearing a sword” wearing and assortment of “fantastic and humorous commendations” and medals, one of which was a Manila Carnival medal that identified Lucas as “a prize bull”. Gen. Hagood proclaimed Lucas as “King of All Negritos”, and gave him a peace- keeping role among feuding Baluga tribes. The general conferred additional titles to the new “king”--Defender of the Orchids”and “ Grand Commander of the Order of Dead Mules, Second Class”.
Dean C. Worcester once caused a stir among Filipinos when he wrote about the existence of slavery and peonage in the Philippines. The charge did not sit well on Filipinos, which prompted Mr. Worcester to cite the inspiring story of a Negrita from Bamban, named Magdalena, and her extraordinary relationship with her mistress, Dña. Petrona David. The latter had met the young Magdalena at the town market where her parents were selling “bulu” ( a bamboo specie) . She took in the 7-year old Magdalena as her househelp, and after her parents died, the kind Doña had her baptized. Magdalena served her foster mother dutifully until the Doña died. She left behind a will, bequeathing one third of her property valued at Php15,000 to Magdalena, who, she said “ has rendered me great service, serving me with loyal and sincere love, and never separating herself from my side ”. As expected, David relatives, contested the legality of the will, and they pursued the case for two years— all the way up to the Supreme Court. But on 24 June 1922, the highest tribunal of the land declared the will, legal, authentic and binding. Still, intrigues hounded her—people could not understand why the Negrita should not be divested of her legacy due to her ignorance. Little did they know that Magdalena’s one special expense is the Php70 that she shells out on the anniversary of her mistress’ death—to buy candles which are lit in her honor and her memory.
In the last World War, Kudiaro Laxamana, an Aeta tribal chief born in the foothills of Mount Pinatubo, distinguished himself by heading the 55-155th Squadron of the Northwest Pampanga Mountain District. As a World War II guerilla hero, he reputedly killed 50 Japanese soldiers, thus saving the lives of 10 U.S. airmen. The brave Aeta supposedly chopped off 17 enemy heads with his bolo knife. He is also credited with saving the lives of Col. Gyle Merrill, the overall commander of a U.S. military contingent, and Maj. Henry Conner, of the 27th Bomb Group. Laxamana’s exploits were finally recognized with a posthumous award given on 28 January 1995 in Mabalacat. He returned to civilian life post-war and became active in fighting for the rights of Aetas. He was killed because of his advocacy in 1970 and at his death, he was given a 21- gun salute and buried at the Clark Cemetery. A major road in Clark—Kudiaro Laxamana Avenue—is named after him.
Not much is known about the subject of the photograph, “Mary, Queen of the Negritos” that was taken in Clark Air Base. But the fame of ”Mary” rests on the photographer—the celebrated Annie Leibovitz, who began her career as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone magazine in 1970. Leibovits rose to become the magazine’s chief photographer for 10 years before moving to Vanity Fair. But two years before, she was on a summer break in the Philippines to visit her father, Samuel Leibovitz, who was serving in the U.S. Air Force in Clark. Of the 1968 photograph entitled “American Soldiers and Mary, Queen of the Negritos”, Leibovotz recalled, “It’s one of the first photographs I took after I started to think I could take pictures. I lined them up like a family picture.” The black and white photo was of “Mary” was purchased by the Norton Museum of Art in 2013, where it was shown in a retrospective exhibit that same year.
In 2001, 26-year old Wayda Cosme made history by becoming the first Aeta to finish law school at the Harvardian College, City of San Fernando. She finished her course through scholarships and stipends, and worked her way to a law degree. This accomplished graduate, was employed in the legal department of Clark Development Corporation. Though she has yet to pass the bar exams, the feat of this woman of color is a courageous story of how a member of an indigenous race overcame prejudice, poverty and personal difficulties to pursue a better life through education, not just for herself, but also for her people. Her remarkable story was made into a telemovie in Channel 7’s “Magpakailanman”.
Jonalyn Ablong was first cast in the movie “Manoro” (The Teacher), a movie that tells the story of an Aeta teacher who made it her mission to teach her fellow Aetas , how to read and write,so that they may be able to vote in the coming elections. Directed by Brillante Mendoza, the film won international awards and gave the Jonalyn Ablong a Gawad Urian Best Actress nomination in 2006, the first and only woman from a cultural minority group to achieve the honor. Her co-nominees included such veterans as Maricel Soriano, Gina Parreño (winner for ‘Kubrador’), Cherrie Pie Picache, Angel Aquino and Mylene Dizon. Ablong’s latest appearance is in the Holy Angel University movie, “ARI, My Life with a King”, (2015) which has also won awards at several international film festivals in London, India and Harlem, New York.
At the 1st ASEAN Tribal Games held in Malaysia from 14-16 September 2010, Aeta Olympians from Mabalacat dominated the games. Jun Ablong, Dumlao Naval and Danilo Tecson won Golds for Treetop Archery, Archery Assault, Blow Pipe Game respectively, while Jimmy Ablong garnered a Bronze in Blow Pipe shooting. The team beat other ethnic delegates from the host country. The Mabalacat Aetas were part of the 12-man Philippine Tribal Team that consisted of Dumagats of Sierra Madre and Mangyans of Mindoro. The ASEAN Tribal Games was held in conjunction with the Nunuk Ragang World Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration in Kota Kinabalu.
This Aeta boy from Marcos Village, became an online singing sensation when a video of his, singing Justin Bieber’s song, “Baby” in front of Puregold-Clark, was posted on youtube in 2011, attracting thousands of views. GMA-7 News did several features of the Aeta singing wonder, who sang to people as a way to get them to buy his nose flutes. YouTube user Ryanesky first posted Gilbert’s video that also show him rendering hits from Bruno Mars, Mariah Carey, and Sean Kingston. In just 3 days, the video had over 190 thousand views. Today, Gilbert has appeared with Grammy Award winner and Kapampangan apl.d.ap in a music video and is currently pursuing a possible showbiz career in Manila while making the rounds of TV talk and variety shows.
11. RONAGIE GILBERT, Winner, 1st Lagu ning Aeta Beauty Pageant
In the field of beauty pageantry, Ronagie Gilbert became the first winner of Lagu ning Aeta (Beauty of Aeta) contest in June 2012. The seminal pageant for women of color attracted 12 contestants from Sitio Bilad, Pulang Lupa, Monicayao, Madapdap, Haduan and Calapi. Completing her court of honor were Queen Rose Maye Sibal and Loretta Quedeng.
On 20 June 2017, Norman King, 27, made history when he became the first Aeta to graduate from the University of the Philippine-Manila, earning a degree in behavioral Sciences. The Brgy. Macapagal, Mabalacat native accepted his diploma proudly wearing his “lubay”-an Aeta g-string. King, the eldest of seven children of Warlita and Norman King, had to work his way through school, and used his savings from a job as a delivery boy to study computer technology in 2005. This led to a better-paying job at a BPO company, allowing him to continue his college studies at the state university where he was under a scholarship. King intends to pursue law studies to help his fellow Aetas, just like his aunt Wyda Cosme, the first Aeta law graduate. King, who goes by the name Isagani Malaya on facebook, is aiming even higher after that. “I want to be a leader of our people,” he said.
In the early 1900s, American military men at Stotsenburg encountered the Aetas and found them as fascinating people, equipped with unique skills and capable of embracing change. They hired them as hunting assistants, errand and cargo boys and even posers for souvenir photographs. The Negritos’ mastery of the jungle impressed the Americans, and their skills for jungle survival were soon tapped by the U. S. military, most specially during the Vietnam War. In the 1960s, as communist military strength grew in Vietnam, the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) began to beef up its forces not only with better munitions but also training and readiness. Hence, PACAF Jungle School, under Maj. Ewing, was set up at Clark to prepare air crew members for their Vietnam assignment and to help banish the fear of jungle. Before their ‘students’, Aetas demonstrated such a wide variety of lessons as loading and shooting a primitive crossbow. They also showed the military how to identify species of poisonous snakes and crocodiles, often letting them pet slithering snakes like pythons to overcome their fear. They also gave instructions on how to build fire, collect water using funnel-shaped leaves, make traps and tent-style animal snares. Aetas also taught the Americans a cooking technique using a bamboo tube, called “binulu” (from ‘bulu’, a bamboo specie).It entailed stuffing the bulu with rice, meats, vegetables and water a filling meal. All these valuable jungle survival lessons were learned in the PACAF school, saving the ives of pilots shot down in the hinterlands of Southeast Asia--thanks largely to the Aetas who ably mentored the military from the 1960s thru the 80s.
Sources:
Caragan, Lucas, Magdalena Negrita: www.viewsfromthepampang.blogspot.com "Negrito Newsmakers"
Basilio:Fermin, Jose:1904 World's Fair-The Filipino Experience. UP Press, 2004
Kudiaro Laxamana: www.allposters.com
Mary, Queen of Negritos: "Norton Museum Buys 39 Annie Leibovitz Photos Ahead of Early 2013 Retrospective", blogsartinfo.com
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/200461/sports/1st-asean-tribal-games-to-feature-spear-throwing-and-blow-guns#sthash.5uJVVbrB.dpuf
Ronagie Gilbert FB page, Punto Central Luzon / Wayda Cosme FB page / Jonalyn Ablong: Robby Tantingco FB pageArjohn Gilbert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXgMWQVbfM
Norman King: Orejas, Tonette: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/910248/first-aeta-up-grad-vows-to-serve-pinatubo-tribes#ixzz4mBsmUlJE
Thank you for this interesting piece of Philippine history. I have a question. How did Norman King get his name? What are the common names of Aetas? When do they lose their Aeta names? AND who chooses their names and how? Thank you.
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