THE Bacolod City Government is sending home 33 Badjao families with 75 members. A proper coordination is made with other government agencies for their travel until they reach Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (Barmm).
Home sweet home means coming back to their villages along the coastal areas of Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, and some shoreline towns of Zamboanga del Sur. These endemic fisherfolk have a name that could be spelled as Badjao, Badjau, Bajaw, Bajo or Badyaw. They are an indigenous ethnic group who have been here in our lands since at least 500AD.
They are known as sea nomads or sea gypsies of the Sulu and Celebes Sea. They live in small houseboats and make their living from boat building and traditional free-diving to catch fish and gather pearls. Other than food from the sea, they eat grated tapioca. They speak Sinama and their religion could be Sunni Islam (form of folk Islam) to animistic beliefs in spirits and ancestor worship.
In 1957, LVN Studio was inspired to make a classic film “Ang Badjao” featuring the life of these seafarers starring Rosa Rosal and Tony Santos. The movie was directed by Lamberto V. Abellana. For a boy to be a good Badjao, he is thrown at sea right after birth and from then on the men of the village should teach him about life in the sea world.
Badjao boys and girls have the sea as their habitat and playground. They could prolong holding their breath under the water. There are even circulated tales saying that they have gills. As they grow up, they have learned the use of compressors for a long-time diving using homemade spear guns and googles to catch fish.
Most of them have not been educated because the school is far from home and their immediate concern is to catch fish to augment family income. They do not own the land where they live. Their ancestors have been there since birth. One day, they just woke up being driven away. The businessmen have purchased their land from the government. The Badjaos do not have the land title to prove that they own their land.
The shorelines are being converted into resorts or fishing ports. The Badjaos cannot even prove that they are the residents of the place because they have no birth certificates. During the government’s war with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the 70s, several areas occupied by the Badjaos were strafed because they were suspected as allies of the MNLF. The government’s ignorance victimized the indigenous people.
Army versus the Badjaos resulted in painful dispersal of the natives. Some migrated to Sabah. Some sought refuge in the different islands of Tawi-Tawi, and some who have no options took the boat from Zamboanga del Norte and ended up in Negros Island. Since they are nomadic in nature, they dared to scatter themselves in our towns and cities.
Bacolod fascinated them because it is a “livable city” and the Bacolodnons always carry a smile. At first, they appeared to be attractive beggars because of their haunting eyes and they speak like birds. They made themselves different from other beggars in their costuming. The women were aggressive in begging while carrying their children like Woodstock characters in the movie. The young mothers would open their breast in public to feed the infant and that attracted the attention of the passersby.
The men would appear like persons with disability and assume the role of a beggar. The children would loiter around, play baleful music or take a jeepney ride and distribute envelopes. Before sundown, they would go to central market establishments to exchange their coins with bigger denominations.
After the boodle fight dinner, they would congregate in a desolate place of our concrete civilization to rest, to copulate and to sleep. By the break of day, business will be as usual as some Christians condemn them because of their gutter smell. These are the Badjaos, our forsaken brother Filipinos in the City of Smile. (To be continued)