Reflection: Immersion

My classmates and I went to San Rafael, Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon. It was March 20, 2018

when we went there. At 9 am we left the seminary compound, and travelled via jeepney to

Buenavista, and then hiking up-hill where the Ip’s live, and returned at almost 5 in the afternoon.

For one hour we climbed on foot. We were seven, the 2nd year class, along with our kind and

generous companion/tour guide tio Efren. The trip was full of experiences, yet it was very

tiresome due to the heat that was caused by the sun. The trip was for our partial requirement in

the course being taken up named Cultural Anthropology – PSY 3E. It was my second time being

there. The first time I visited the mountain area of San Rafael, the home of the Agta Simaron and

Tabangnon, was last year. It was also for academic purposes, it was our class in Phil. History

along with the 3rd year bro’s in their class in Cultural Anthropology as Bro. Jerome Espeña being

our professor.

Before San Rafael was came to be known as San Rafael, the given name to that slice of

paradise was “Pigbanua”. People started living there in 1905. A fact from history tells us that all

of the IP around Prieto Diaz, came from that very place. Right now with the position of the

chieftain vacant, they are in the point where they are ready to reorganize their positions and elect

their leaders. We did not witness any ritual activities when we came there because there are no

events to be celebrated. With the IPMR – Ronel Delima as the acting leader or their tribe, there

are almost with 9 Cabos, there are 500 people in which he handles, and only 17 percent of the

population is well to be considered as pure IP or as they would call it “Agta Tabangnon”. Thus,

the two types of IPs, they are differentiated by their purity of blood, so to speak. The Tabangnons

are considered as pure breed of Indigenous blood in their veins though their ancestry. On the

other hand the Agta Simaron is a mixture of non-Ip blood and Ip blood combined.
 As a visitor, having been welcomed there at their so called tribe, is truly a heartwarming

and fun experience. Having no payments due to be paid, it was a blessing for our class because

we really wanted to be with them, as our class beadle insisted. And so, having been with them

even for a short period of time, we tackled so many things. It came to the point where we tackled

about their way of life, as they would say simple. Some of the people we interviewed there said

that, “if you don’t work you labors here, you will starve and eventually you will die.” Some of

their source of income there are the productions of Banig, Honey, Coal, Copra, fruits and

vegetables. I vouch for them, for they are really hard working. Even the old ladies, Lola Elena

Dolendo a 77 year old woman and Anuncacion Fajardo older than the former, they are the ones

who are responsible for the production and selling of the Banigs, in which we bought, as we

brought it back in the seminary. Lola Elana can weave 4 to 5 banigs a day.

In addition after seeing my classmates try the “mama” as we visited a house where pure

IP’s live, Tiya Novelita and her husband Timothy Ditan along with her kids, my classmates and I

left their small house and we went to the Bee farm of tio Efren our tour guide/companion. And

there we enjoyed fresh buko and newly picked honey from the cultured farm.

All in all, the people there do what they do because it is necessary for they survival. For

instance, if they don’t work they don’t eat. For my own personal challenge, if ever I am assigned

there, I would like to visit them from time to time, and even with little experiences for apostolate,

I will offer to them what I can give, especially prayer and by being with them free of service. As

fellow Christians and a follower of its doctrine, it is model deed in my opinion, to be in the

peripheries just like Jesus had done. And so to be with them is the first effective way in dealing

with them to know what needs to be known in order to help those who are need of help.

Geo Angelo C. Astraquillo