Tribes in Philippines

 

According to some estimates, there are close to 100 indigenous peoples, exclusive of the Muslim groups, though the exact size of the indigenous population remains unclear: while the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples estimates that  there are approximately 11.3 million indigenous peoples in the Philippines, for example – a figure amounting to around 11- 12 per cent of the population – some civil society estimates suggest they may comprise between 10 and 20 per cent of the population.

There is a great variety of social organization and cultural expression among these communities. Some specialize in wood-carving, basket-making and weaving. Others are known for their embroidery, appliqué and bead-making. They range from the Bontoc and Ifugaos, who built the renowned rice terraces in the mountainous interior of Luzon, to indigenous peoples practising shifting cultivation or hunter-gathering.

A significant number of indigenous peoples in central Luzon are Protestant Christians, having been converted by American missionaries in the early twentieth century and educated in missionary schools. For others there is a considerable difference in terms of integration with lowland Christian Filipinos. Some have intermarried. Others have remained isolated. There is little general agreement on the names and numbers of these indigenous communities.

While some of these indigenous peoples emerged from early waves of Malay or Proto-Malay migrants, about 27 of them, such as Aeta and Ati, are Negritos that were already long-established in the Philippines: they are thought to be the descendants of the earliest settlers to the archipelago, who may have migrated there through land bridges from the Asian mainland some 30,000 years ago.

A common geographical distinction is often made between Igorot (Tagalog for ‘mountaineer’) on Luzon, and Lumad (‘indigenous’) for those in Mindanao, with others in Luzon and the Visayas using their collective name, such as the Manobo, Mangyan, etc. Ten upland tribal groups on Luzon have been identified: Ifugao, Bontoc, Kankanay, Ibaloi, Kalinga, Tinguian, Isneg, Gaddang, Ilongot and Negrito. Ifugaos of Ifugao province, Bontocs of Mountain and Kaling-Apayao provinces and Kankanay and Ibaloi of Benguet province were all wet-rice farmers who have for centuries worked their elaborate rice terraces. Groups such as the Ibaloi were the most influenced by Spanish and American colonialism and lowland Filipino culture because of the extensive gold mines in Benguet, the proximity of the city of Baguio, good roads and schools, and a consumer industry in search of folk art. Other mountain peoples of Luzon include Kalinga of Kalinga-Apayao province and Tinguian of Abra province, who employ both wet-rice and dry-rice growing techniques. Isneg of northern Kalinga-Apayao, Gaddang of the border between Kalinga-Apayao and Isabela provinces, and Ilongot of Nueva Vizcaya province all practise shifting cultivation. Although Negritos formerly dominated the highlands, by the early 1980s they were reduced to small groups living in widely scattered locations, primarily along the eastern ranges.

The other concentration of indigenous communities is in central and southern Philippines. The Lumad tribal groupings of Mindanao include Ata, Bagobo, Guiangga, Mamanwa, Magguangan, Mandaya, Banwa-on, Bukidnon, Dulangan, Kalagan, Kulaman, Manobo, Subanon, Tagabili, Takakaolo, Talandig, and Tiruray or Teduray. The Lumad groups of Mindanao have faced, and continue to face, long-term displacement and legalized land dispossession, which is also a threat to other indigenous communities in the Philippines. The southern Philippine island peoples of Mindanao are resource-rich and were formerly under-populated compared to the northern island peoples of Luzon. Thus, throughout the twentieth century, there was a steady migration of Christian lowland Filipinos into areas previously occupied and dominated by Lumad and Moros. These migrations were initially encouraged by the American authorities, when the Philippines was under their rule, and were given further impetus by central government authorities after independence by the development of plantation agriculture, logging concessions and hydro-electric and geothermal energy schemes. Lumad are now outnumbered in their ancestral lands.