Aetas’ Christmas wish: Electricity, power

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CAPAS, Tarlac—A small Aeta community in a remote part of this province got its first taste of a Christmas party Thursday courtesy of the Philippine Army’s Training and Doctrine (Tradoc) Command.

More than 100 families living in nipa huts atop a hill in Sitio (sub-village) Manabayucan in Binyayan town were served ice cream, treated to music and Christmas carols by an Army brass band and cadet officers, and played parlor games with the soldiers.

But if this community had a Christmas wish, it would be to have electricity and paved roads.

“That’s all we want, electricity and good roads so that it won’t be too difficult to come here or to go to the city,” tribe leader and pastor Raul Cabalic, 32, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

To get to Sitio Manabayucan, one has to maneuver a narrow bumpy road along which the wild grass tower over vehicles and cross three shallow rivers where carabaos take a dip. One then has to make a short but steep climb up the hill on which the community sits.

Cabalic said the community was fortunate that a foundation helped them put up a potable water system and the Department of Education established a school from the primary to the 5th grade.

“The teachers come up here on Monday and go down on Friday,” he said, adding that the community hoped the school would have a 6th grade soon. There are about 120 children in the whole community, according to Cabalic.

Cabalic said the community’s livelihood is dependent on the bananas and root crops that they sell in the market. At times, their customers come up the hill to buy their goods.

Cabalic said the community hoped the road to their place would be paved to make it more accessible.

It gets tougher on rainy days. Cabalic said they can get stuck on the hill for days, cut off from the rest of the world.

At the foot of the hill is a shallow river with heavy rocks. “It’s really difficult to cross it,” he said.

The officers and men of Tradoc, led by deputy commander Col. Medardo Geslani and Col. Ramon Bombais, gave sacks of rice, boxes of canned goods and clothes to the families.

In a place where two or three families live in one nipa hut, these and the parlor games to boot made for great presents.

“We are very blessed this Christmas,” Cabalic said.