The Badjaos: An Ethical Reflection
Ernest Dale Acar
These Badjao beggars are a far cry from the Badjaos we know – those who belong to a proud tribe that stubbornly resisted the onslaughts of Spanish colonialism and American imperialism, and were able to preserve the way of life bequeathed to them by their ancestors in the face of a massive deculturization carried out by the country’s conquerors.
- ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Perhaps we have noticed them on the streets, tugging on our shirts with the simple plea, “Piso, ‘kol…” matched to the extended hand that is asking for alms. We see them in clannish groups, strolling the metropolis—a family business of beggars. We see them sleeping on the cold pavements at nighttime with only a small piece of carton to lie on. These are the pictures of what we call these modern-day nomads—the Badjaos.
These Badjao beggars are a far cry from the Badjaos we know — those who have impressed both fellow Filipinos and foreigners for their toughness, their expertise as pearl divers, with nothing but daggers between their lips; with their bare eyes, without any diving equipment, they could search the farthest, darkest depths of the seas and come back with the most beautiful pearls.
Often referred to as the Philippine "sea gypsies", the Badjaos, until recently, spent their lives on their small boats which frequent the waters around the numerous islands of the Sulu Archipelago. Today, about two-thirds of the Tawi-Tawi Badjaos still use boats as permanent living quarters. Some of their villages are, in fact, flotillas.
The Badjaos are of two groups: the southern Badjaos of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, who call themselves a single "bangsa" or ethnic group; and the northern Badjaos (the Basilan and Zamboanga groups).
Though they are water people, they go on land and stay on land when they die or are buried. They make frequent trips to their cemeteries to seek favors from the spirits of their deceased ancestors and relatives.
Flashback to October 2003.
I was an excited traveler as it was my first time to be in the famed
Davao
City
. My father and I have to take a six-hour boat trip to Cagayan on an early rainy Friday morning, a ride I thought to be sulky and insignificant. I slept most of the whole trip until the promising mass of Cagayan de Oro can be seen from a far.
An hour or so before the boat docked, dolphins swam along the ferry, displaying the splendor and ability of their dives and glides. A few minutes from the pier, images of the dolphins faded as human forms came in the picture. It seemed territorial in that place—one site was set for dolphins, the other for humans. These humans dive for a living. They beg from passengers mere coins tossed into the water, and before reaching the sea beds, the coins were already slipped inside their lips. It was clear then that these activities of begging on the pier has been customary this side of the country.
I was rather taken aback at the fact that people are entertained at the site. It tore my heart to see a nursing mother, sitting on the banca that served as the divers’ base, supervising her other children’s business.
Today, many of them are in the streets, thousands of kilometers away from their native
Mindanao
, begging for alms. Along with other indigenous peoples (IPs), mostly Aetas and Igorots, they are seen in large numbers in the streets of Metro Manila during Christmas.
Bayani Fernando, chair of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), has threatened with arrest these indigenous people. According to him, they cause traffic.
Henry Borreo, a member of the National Council of the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP), condemned the statements of the MMDA chair in a recent press conference.
"After Fernando’s unmerciful attacks on vendors these past months, we indigenous peoples who are among the most abused and neglected citizens of this country are now his targets," Borreo said. "We do not say that begging should be tolerated but the issue of dire poverty, the lack of basic social services, unemployment, and the massive displacement of IPs from their ancestral lands — these are the issues that government officials like Fernando are obliged to address, not the subjugation of the poor."
He went on to enumerate the factors that have driven indigenous peoples to beg in the streets: in the case of the Aetas, their having to remain in resettlement areas with no means of livelihood; in the case of the Badjaos, the destruction of their livelihood due to the entry of big fishing corporations; and in the case of the Igorots, the exploitation of their land by foreign energy and mining corporations.
Remembering the young Badjao men who approached me one day, thinking of the Badjao woman who knocked on our gates another day, the Badjao children who tapped on their drums, and those who dived, all to beg for alms, I can only infer how many people must have mocked them. But did those who mock the Badjaos ever think of asking the government why, in the first place, they who come from a proud tribe are now in the streets, pleading for the compassion of people they do not know?
These Badjaos represent the loopholes in our society that needs our extra attention, our undivided sympathy, and our unconditional compassion. If we societal change is our battle cry, they should be part of our agenda.
I took pity for them as they are driven by culture to beg. Capable, most often, are they to work, they have not done so as the government has not found ways to educate them to hone their skills.
There is an argument within me whether to submit to the social calling of letting these people understand that making a living is not just through begging.
When a Badjao child tugs on my shirt on the busied streets of Dumaguete, it pains my heart to think that these young innocents are driven into this business, maybe out of parental prodding, or cultural push, or simply because of the pangs of poverty.
With this reflection, I have come to think in the light of the Christianity I claim to be as my faith, with the ethics I have learned and lived. Where would these people fare in the gauges I have set?
As a Christian, I have understood that I should live a life in accord to what Christ has taught and shown. Perhaps he would look at this societal loophole in the light of eternal perspective.
The Badjaos are the beggars that can be likened to those who roamed the courts and swarmed at the temple gates at the mercy of those who are fortunate to be in a far better position more than two millennia back.
We have come to discriminate these indigenous people as mere beggars. But this relegation has been way against the greatest command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 19:19). We ought to love our neighbors, and these people ought to be recipients of that love as they are our neighbors, much more, our brothers and sisters.
Should the government continue on the mendicancy ban? It has been helpful in eradicating beggars on the streets though, but giving to beggars is a personal conviction. As it is written, “Give to him who begs from you…” (Matthew 5:42). If we live by these tenets, we would willingly give. To give out of charity is a virtue that a real Christian attitude.
The act of charity is an outgrowth of a genuine love for God. Our vertical relationship, that is the right devotion to God, should be reflected in our acts—in our horizontal relationships with our fellowmen. Romans 12:9-10 puts it nicely: ” Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”
We need to show this group honor and respect as any human being deserves to have. This is not an urging of deviance towards the law, rather, this is an urge to wake up and fulfill our advocacy for social justice. If we believe that social justice is best achieved by love, let this truth ring about: “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)
Love does no wrong to a neighbor, and giving alms is not a wrong thing to do, it is our attitude to it that makes it wrong. We cannot fully understand this truth if we fail to recognize the authority Jesus Christ has over our lives.
When we extend help to others people, let the warning of Matthew 6 linger on our thoughts that we “do not do our acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them (v. 1).” Let it not be a hypocritical act but rather a given out of our genuine love. “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (v.4).”
To sum, I recall the song by Steve Green, Unto Me, based on Matthew 25:40, which says,
“Go and find your neighbor, go, help build a wall, when you help, the helpless, that is true Christianity. Whatever you’ve done to the least of these, you have done it unto me…”
It is wonderful to note that when we do good things to others, we are doing it for the Lord.
