The presence of ethnic groups or indigenous people like the “Aetas and Badjaos are endemic during the holiday season.
In fact, they’ve become Metro Manila’s automatic human alarm system for Christmas.
They’ve learned to cash in on the Season of hope and giving and their presence became as common as Christmas light decors and lanterns that we see on the streets.
Their number proliferates in almost every nook and cranny of the metropolis as Christmas Season nears.
A downside of which, however, is the negative psychological impact they bring instead of one enjoying beautiful multicolored Christmas lights and lanterns, ordinary people have to wrangle with their conscience whether to share hard-earned blessings or not.
Aside from this, these indigenous people also pose a negative effect on well-maintained surroundings of cities not to mention the anxiety they give to commuters and drivers of jeepneys.
The Aeta or Agta are indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon while Badjaos, who is widely known as “Sea Gypsies” of Sulu and Celebes Seas, live along coastal areas of Tawi Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, and some coastal municipalities of Zamboanga del Sur in the BARMM. (IAMIGO/BENJIE CUARESMA/CNS)
