Sea Gypsies in the Desert

My first encounter with the Sama Dilaut was when I was riding a jeepney on the way to Angeles City, Pampanga. This little boy was carrying a custom-made drum made out of milk cans and riding jeepney to jeepney, asking for money from the passenger while singing a song that is so gibberish to me. Some passengers get annoyed, even shouting at them, ” Kayong mga badjao kayo, ba’t di pa kayo bumalik sa dagat!”.  When I asked the little boy where he came from, he said he was from Zamboanga. And there are many of them, living under the bridge in Angeles City and in the lahar area of Mabalacat in Pampanga.

Just a few days ago, I brought my cameras to satisfy my curiosity and went on the way to their place near the Xevera Subdivision in Mabalacat, which borders the hilly section of the province of Tarlac. There, I met Guzman Datu, the village’s leader. Guzman said he came to know Pampanga from his cousin, who now permanently resides under the main bridges connecting Bulacan and Pampanga in Apalit, Pampanga. According to his own story, from Zamboanga City, their initial settlement in this province was under a bridge in Angeles City, but later on, they were offered Php 5,000 per family to have their site demolished by the local government.

The site where they are now temporarily located is being owned by certain Ysagani Ybarra. Ibarra and his family owned this parcel of land. Guzman Datu was able to build his shanty with the money he saved from selling. Piece by piece, he buys brand new plywood, or if he can find used ones from recently demolished houses, he salvages whatever they can use after being given permission.

” We don’t want to be part of the war happening in our land. And aside from that, some people wanted us to get out because they said they were building private sites owned by influential people for their businesses. Others even say that because of the changing climate, we have to leave. That is the reason we came here. In Luzon, there are no wars, “Guzman Datu said.

The threat of relocation poses if the Ybarra family decides to get back this land; they will have no choice but to leave and find another settlement for their people. What is adorable among their traits is that, though they are deprived of and not adept with the communication technology available today, they managed to reconnect; distance is a word totally stranger to them, by crude technology of word of mouth; thus, this settlement accumulated a total of 157 families.

” We don’t want to be part of the war happening in our land. And aside from that, some people wanted us to get out because they said they were building private sites owned by influential people for their businesses. Others even say that because of the changing climate, we have to leave. That is the reason we came here. In Luzon, there are no wars, ” Guzman Datu said.

He even elaborated that while their fishing village became a stage of harassment by private and rich individuals who have stakes in their village, some of his fellows and families became defenseless casualties of the savage militarization and ravages of war inflicted on the land, and while afloat, came another pierce adversary called the Pirates of the Seas, forcing them to get from them what they had caught from the abundance and blessings of the sea to the extent of robbing their life-giving boats.

 “We want to pass on the skills to them so as not to vanish from what, how and who we are, ” said Guzman Datu.

“We are peace-loving people; we do not want wars. All we want is to find a way to provide for our families and live normal lives like anyone else.” When asked if they wanted to come back to their village, he nodded sternly. “I already like it here (Mabalacat City) because it’s peaceful. It may maybe hard to get by every day by selling fish, but I want it here (they also received 4Ps, or conditional cash transfers, from DSWD). In case they will be relocating us, what we are asking is that they relocate us to a place similar to this, near a body of water, so that we can still teach our children to swim and preserve our culture. We want to pass on the skills to them so as not to vanish from what, how, and who we are, ” said Guzman Datu.

When I asked what the difference was between Badjao and Sama Dilaut, they said that they no longer wanted to be called Badjao because it had the connotation of being a “scavenger” or “beggar.” They don’t want to be called Badjao; they want to be called Sama. Guzman Datu enlightened me by explaining that they are also Muslims, and the head of their mosque is called Imam, similar to a priest of the Christians. He classified their ethnicity according to this order: 1. Samadilaut: These people have houses on the land, but as the need arises, they go to the seas to find seafood they can get. This is where Guzman Datu’s ethnicity belongs. 2. Palau: This group of people sleeps on the boat with improvised coverings, and their source of livelihood is fishing. 3. Badjao: Their main craft is swimming almost beneath the sea floor to find south sea pearls, for which they are ethnically known and famous.

In the village, many children and teenagers need to be taught. Their school is a small bamboo framework with a covered portion on top of it. Indeed, not enough for all the children that live here. A bamboo post standing tall beside it with tailored fish-shaped cloth hanging and waving on top of it serves as a reminder and marker that this is the school. This is the first structure that will welcome any visitor once he or she enters the site. A few houses from the school erect a manual water pump (poso) donated by Korean nationals who domicile in nearby Angeles City. Two more of the same pumps will be built to accommodate all of them, as promised by the beneficent donors.

” I hope they will consider us ordinary citizens here in Pampanga. We want our children to enter a public school because we also want them to have a better future. Even though we came from Zamboanga, we are no different from you (referring to me). We are also Filipinos,”Guzman Datu lastly said.