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The Aetas of Kalangitan have survived displacement, poor livelihood, and years of insufficient government support. Now, they want the government to meet them on that road to self-determination by fixing the actual road.
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article. The Aetas of Kalangitan have survived displacement, poor livelihood, and years of insufficient government support.
Now, they want the government to meet them on that road to self-determination by fixing the actual road. This is the last of a three-part series examining how the Aeta resettlement community in Kalangitan in Capas, Tarlac fares 35 years after the CAPAS, Tarlac – In the stifling heat of Tarlac, Nelson de Guzman held up an empty plastic liter bottle. The scent of gasoline tainted the air; the few dredges left pooled at the bottom. He shook his head.
As the village elder of Gayaman, the 200 or so Aeta residents here look to him with respect. He provides a guiding voice to this resettled Aeta community on issues ranging from health issues to new developments in and around the area. As a healer, Nelson has warded off afflictions, be theyBut this time, the scourge that threatens the community is harder to deal with.
It’s unfamiliar, distant, and economic. It’s contending with market forces.by the United States and Israel disrupted the supply of oil from the Middle East. As hostilities flared, oil tankers have been hindered or barred from crossing the Strait of Hormuz and reaching global markets. The Philippines, which imports roughly 98% of its crude oil requirements from the Middle East, has been left extremelyhad just been announced to have hit 7.2% – a three-year high.
Fuel was a main driver as gasoline prices were 59.6% higher than last year, while diesel prices climbed even higher at 122.7%. At the pump, gasoline was selling between P80 to P94. In the community, the price was even higher, closer to P100 a liter. Though Kalangitan is thousands of kilometers away from the conflict, the village elder is keenly aware of the root cause of their recent hardship.
“Apektado talaga yung kabuhayan ng tao sa nangyarihing itong gulo sa ibang bansa. Dahil lang doon sa kanila ‘yung mina ng gas, mina ng langis, hindi nila iniisip ay maraming taong apektado,”Before this, Nelson used to sell gas in bottles — like the one that now stood empty — around the community. He used to sell one big bottle, about a liter in size, at about P60. Now, the same bottle goes for at least P100. Nowadays, everyone in the village buys their gasoline and diesel from the nearby Caltex gas station. And for those with existing debts to Nelson?
“Saka na lang ko. Kung gusto niyo bayaran o hindi. Ganun na lang. Kaysa naman pilitin mo siya, e kinakapos na sila sa sahod.
” As oil prices rose, so did the cost of moving goods. For a remote community like Kalangitan, that cuts further into what’s left to take home at the end of each selling day.
to carry produce and handicrafts from the resettlement area to town, where a day’s sales might bring in around P1,000. Before the fuel hikes, the trip cost about P500, already half of what she hoped to earn. After prices climbed, the rental rose to P700, leaving only a few hundred pesos.
“Noong tumaas ang presyo ng langis, tumaas sa P700 ‘yung presyo ng renta sa kolong-kolong, kaya halos wala na din po talaga silang maiuwi,”“Ang daing nila wala na talagang natitira para doon na sumasahod. Para naman sa mga nagtitinda, ‘yung kita nila, halos nauuwi na lang talaga sa pagbayad ng gasolina. ”also rose to P700, so there really was hardly anything left for them to take home. Their complaint is that there’s nothing left from their salaries.
For vendors, their income mostly just goes to paying for gasoline. ) The strain has also reached the Aeta Learning Center. The weekend classes held by volunteer organization Liwanag at Dunong continue, but fewer adults are able to attend. The same crisis that has made earning harder has also made studying harder to justify.
Sundays can no longer be spared. Manalo said, referring to the attendance rate.
“Noong nagka-oil crisis din po talaga, kailangan na mag-doble kayod nang mga katutubo. Kaya kung before, kaya pa nilang yung Sunday, ilaan talaga sa pagpasok sa learning center, ngayon, meron talagang ilan sa kanila na hindi na maipagpaliban yung Linggo para magtrabaho or magbenta. ” STUDY. Adult learners in the Aeta Learning Center review their lessons on a Sunday. Photo by Lance Spencer Yu.
from the community itself. But much of that has been put on hold. The teachers, too, have had to focus on earning enough to get by. Neslyn Pelacio, who graduated from the Alternative Learning Program in 2023, was one of those community teachers.
She and her husband Jessie have felt that pressure acutely. When I visited the community, Neslyn had only a few minutes to spend with the volunteers. Even on this Sunday morning — the morning of her birthday too — she was preparing to go to the mountains where she had ginger planted. The journey alone could take up to half a day.
“Bago ‘yung krisis sa langis, meron talaga silang naitatabi mula sa sweldo ni Tatay Jessie. Pero noong tumaas nga itong presyo ng gasolina, wala na din po talaga silang maitabi mula sa sinusuweldo kaya nawalan din po talaga sila ng ipon,” Even the elders have had to pull back. Belen David, the village elder of Sitio Bagingan, used to attend Sunday classes regularly. But recently, that has changed.
“Hindi na din talaga siya makapasok kasi hanggang Sunday ng umaga nagtitinda sila. Tapos pagdating ng hapon, sobrang pagod na ng katawan niya,” The goods Belen sells comes far away from the resettlement area, where the soil is too poor and space too limited for families to grow anything at scale.
Reaching the farmlands can take up to 12 hours on foot, or about five hours by, she, like many other Aetas, was moved from one place to another before eventually settling in Sitio Bagingan. Here, livelihood remains difficult, and the price of oil is another burden she cannot escape. — upland plots that can be half a day away. For Minda, that means spending the week collecting sweet potatoes and then selling them when she can on the weekends.
But higher fuel and transport costs keep eating into what little profit she makes. What frustrates her most is the feeling that the government only remembers them when it needs something. In ordinary times, their help is absent. But during elections, officials and candidates descend into the community to offer their support, and more importantly, court their votes.
“Kung minsan sinasabi ko hindi tayo napapansin ng gobyerno, bakit kung botohan? Kulang na nga lang ‘yung aso kikilalanin nila, sa totoo talaga.
‘Ay, i-boto niyo kami! ’ Pero pagdating sa tulong ng gobyerno, bakit wala kami? ” In Bagingan, residents have been asking for years for the repair of a road that they use to reach work, transport goods, and bring children and elders to the Aeta Learning Center. Year after year, the promises have begun to blur. Officials tell them not to worry.
Help will come. The dilapidated road? It’ll be fixed, they say — just vote us into office! But she’s heard those assurances one too many times.
“Sabi nila, ‘Huwag kayong mag-alala. ’ Puro na lang huwag mag-alala. Anong gagawin? Mag-rebelde para mapansin?
” “Sabi nila, ‘yung kalsada ninyo, kami bahala. Basta kaming naupo. Palaging ganun. Ilang taon na.
” The road in its current state is an unpaved stretch of dirt that turns soft and muddy in the rain, then hardens and cracks again under the sun.
Residents say motorcycles and carts can flip along the worst parts.
“May isang part doon na halos kalahati ng kalsada, halos naging bangin na siya. Hindi po siya nasesemento kaya pagdating ng mga bagyo, talagang gumuguho na ang daanan. ” The Liwanag at Dunong community advocacy lead said that officials in the area have known about this problem for years, but little has changed. Now, the oil crisis has only compounded the issue.
“Dahil hanggang ngayon, hindi pa rin binibigyan pansin ‘yung kalsada sa lugar nila, noong nagkaroon din ng oil crisis, mas matindi ‘yung effect sa kanila dahil hindi sila makadaan sa shorter route. Kailangan nila dumaan sa mas mahabang ikot. Mas mahal po talaga sa gasolina,” And with the rainy season looming, conditions will only become worse. Several people in the community recounted memories of walking through mud that reached their knees.
In a video taken by a meter reader in late 2025, the same stretch appears still badly damaged. Schoolchildren hobble along the fractures, their backpacks jostling. Belen, Bagingan’s village elder, had a simple plea: fix the road.
“Sana po matulungan niyo po kami dito sa aming daan. Nahihirapan po kami.
‘Yung mga anak ko, hirap na hirap po. ‘Yung pangangalakal, nahihirapan dito sa daan namin,” It is a modest request from a community that has already done much of the work of rebuilding on its own. The Aetas of Kalangitan have survived displacement, poor livelihood, and years of insufficient government support. They have built a learning center, pushing for education as a way to claim more control over their future.
Now, they want the government to meet them on that road to self-determination by fixing the actual road.
“Sana ang daan namin ayusin naman para hindi kami mahirapan. Para hindi naman kami mahirapan na tulad ng pagtitinda namin ng kalakal. Para hindi kami tulak ng tulak ng mga motor namin. Ayon lang nama.
Sana mapansin kami ng gobyerno na magawa ‘yung daan namin sa Kalangitan,”Lance Spencer Yu is a former business journalist for Rappler. He previously covered how government policies and economic shocks affected vulnerable sectors, including onion farmers and jeepney drivers. He later worked as a private capital analyst at MSCI, and as an investment and strategy analyst at Dedale Intelligence, producing research for private equity funds and institutional investors.
Trisha Concepcion holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literature, major in Literary and Cultural Studies, from De La Salle University. Her experience spans education, cultural work, and research, including work in museum programming and indigenous heritage-related government projects. She has also taught under the Arts and Design Track at De La Salle University Senior High School, handling subjects in research, arts, culture, and literature. She is currently pursuing graduate studies in Anthropology.
Lance Spencer Yu is a multimedia reporter who covers the transportation, tourism, infrastructure, finance, agriculture, and corporate sectors, as well as macroeconomic issues.
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