Focus on indigenous peoples

Cheers to Saksi for deviating from the usual Manila-centric type of reporting to bring public attention to a case of ancient burial theft and the state of an endangered language in Quirino province.

In two separate special reports aired April 17 and 19, the show looked into two largely overlooked problems of indigenous peoples (IPs) in the province.

Focusing on Agta, a language spoken by the Agta tribe in the mountains of Nagtipunan, Quirino, the April 17 report explored the reasons why about 30 Philippine languages are now considered endangered by the International Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL International). Borrowing insights from the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language) and the Agta natives themselves, the report cited the inability of older generations to pass the language on to younger generations, the desire to learn “salitang puti” (in the tribe’s case, Ilocano and Tagalog) to be understood outside the community, and the lack of books and other teaching materials written in the language as the leading factors contributing to the near extinction of Agta.

The report also noted the efforts by a local teacher to keep Agta from suffering the same fate as Arta, another language once spoken in the province declared extinct by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The April 19 report documented the efforts of Ilongots to guard a skeleton cave where they claim about a hundred of their Ilongot ancestors died of hunger and were buried four centuries ago.

In 1998, tourists visited the site and took with them skulls from the cave. Although a local ordinance penalizing burial theft was passed in 2002, local tribesmen still take turns guarding the cave.

While this report lacked corroboration to substantiate the authenticity of both the age of the skeletal remains in the cave and the locals’ stories, it still deserves cheers for giving two IP groups airtime.