Gilbert C. Magulod Jr., Ph.D.1, Janilete R. Cortez, MAEd2, Bernard P. Madarang, MAEd3 State University at , Lasam, Cagayan, [email protected]

This research investigated the ethnic intermarriage, community involvement, aspirations and concept of education among the Agays of Lasam, Cagayan, Philippines with the end goal of proposing interventions for the extension program of at Lasam. It employed ethnographic and descriptive survey research designs. Using informal retrospective interview and photo documentation techniques to the eighteen Agay-informants located in the three communities of Lasam, Cagayan. Findings of the study indicate that majority of the Agats were intermarried to Ilocano lowlanders. They married at the church, and they had had permanent habitation with an average of four children. Most of them were unable to attain formal education. The intermarried phenomenon of the Agays is attributed to their migration and economic engagement with the Ilocano lowlanders and other ethnic groups. Engagement in farming and paid labor was their livelihood, revealing low-income standard of living. In like manner, intermarried Agays had a moderate level of community participation particularly in assemblies, voting, and training sponsored by agencies. A good life for them was measured by the provision of basic needs of their families. They manifested a high regard for the value of education to improve their standard of living, mainly to their children's future. The result of the study may serve as a basis for proposing a model of community development approach to improve the life quality of indigenous peoples in the Philippine countryside.

ethnic intermarriage, community involvement, education, aspirations

I. INTRODUCTION to other ethnic groups differ from their original cultural practices when they live in a The Philippines has so many ethnic community. In the study of Madriaga and and minority groups with an estimated 12–15 Lacanlale (2011), they noted that Aetas being million indigenous peoples (IPs) belonging to a minority group are social, politically, and 110 ethnolinguistic groups (Waddington, educationally suppressed. Like any other 2002). The indigenous peoples constitute 10- minority groups, they are marginalized. They 15% of the population of the country. They are have limited or no access to government mainly found in Northern Luzon and services and only minimal job opportunities Mindanao, with some groups in the Visayas are available to them. Ocampo and Ocampo (UNDP, 2010). Among the major IPs are the (2014) affirmed that because of the constant Igorot of Northern Luzon, the Lumads of interactions of the Aetas with other ethnic Mindanao, the Mangyans of Mindoro, and the groups, their ways of living, especially Negritos living in different regions of the economic survival, is starting to change. country. The Negritos migrated from mainland Asia and settled in the Philippines around According to Tamayao (2011), in the 30,000 years ago (Cariño, 2010). Philippines, one of the channels where different ethnic groups come into contact with The Agays are indigenous people one another was migration. It plays an living in the dispersed isolated mountainous important role in creating opportunities in regions of Luzon, Philippines. The intermarriage social connection like ethnic intermarriages. of Agays to other ethnic groups like the As in all intermarriages, he further posited that Ilokanos and Kalingas is a good point to this phenomenon meant not only joining explore. The intermarriage reared different another family or another set of life-histories perspectives and speculations in their way of but also involving the adoption of an element life along educational, economic, political and of a different culture. religious aspects. Moreover, their socio-civic In the parlance of the law, Republic involvement and aspirations being intermarried Act No. 8371, or “The Indigenous Peoples’

Page | 34 Rights Act of 1997," is “an act to recognize, perspective on conducting more protect and promote the rights of indigenous comprehensive studies on the Agays of cultural communities/indigenous peoples, Lasam, Cagayan. created a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, established implementing This study intended to examine the mechanisms, appropriated funds therefore, ethnic intermarriage, community involvement, and for other purposes (Enacted by the aspirations and concept of education of Agays Senate and House of Representatives of the in rural communities. Implications of the study Philippines in Congress, 1997)." present study will provide directions on how to help them in their communities. Putting emphasis that portion of the history of Lasam is the existence of the ethnic This study intended to explore the group Agays who are considered as early ethnic intermarriage, community involvement, settlers in the mountainous part of the aspirations, and the educational concept municipality. Their intermarriage and socio- among Agays in Lasam, Cagayan. Likewise, it civic involvement with other ethnic groups and described the personal characteristics of the their aspirations provide a sound basis of informants, the reasons of intermarriage, their interest to add to the limited studies on the involvement in social and civic activities in Agays’ way of life. their communities, aspirations, and regard for the value of education. This study also Intermarriage between the Agays and recommended interventions on project Ilocanos, Ilonggos, or Kalinga in Lasam is development for institutionalization by quite interesting to explore bearing its concerned stakeholders. significance that those intermarried couples will form the basic unit of society as a family. II. METHODOLOGY The need of literature to document the way of living along educational, economic, political, Research Design social and religious practices of the intermarried Agays provide some baseline This study employed ethnographic data to development planners and and quantitative descriptive survey research implementers in tailoring initiatives to uplift designs as it uncovered the ethnic their standard of living. intermarriage, community involvement, aspirations and concept of education among The intermarriage phenomenon of the the Lasam Agays. According to Frankel and Agays with other cultural groups is worth Wallen (2006), the emphasis in ethnographic investigating as it will serve as a social research is on documenting or portraying the mechanism in influencing the other members everyday experiences of individuals by of this minority group in the implementation of observing and interviewing them and relevant effective programs and projects intended to others. In like manner, the quantitative elevate their present standard of living. descriptive survey provided details on the Likewise, this study will provide baseline data personal and work characteristics of the to development planners and implementers informants. Navarro and Santos (2011) regarding the educational, economic, political, described the survey method as having the social and religious. purpose of collecting detailed, factual information describing existing phenomena. This study hopes to contribute to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and The unstructured interview technique Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regarding and the standard participant observer method the country's needs of funding initiatives or gathered the data for the study. The interview programs anchored on the preservation, was used as the primary tool in gathering data, revitalization, and development of indigenous with the camera to record necessary events. groups like the Agays in Northern Cagayan. It Upon writing the facts gathered from the shall also likewise provide data to the National informants, the researchers compared their Commission for the Culture and the Arts statements with what they had in the field (NCCA) regarding the existence of Agay notes. Participation observer technique was communities. Further, the Cagayan State used to get information from the informants. University-Lasam, with the Agay communities as one of its community extension service Research Locale areas, could adapt literacy, livelihood and health intervention programs for them. The study setting was in the Pioneering this study will also offer a wider Municipality of Lasam, Cagayan. This study

Page | 35 covered the three Agay communities in the Most informants had intermarried barangays of Peru, Sicalao, and Cabatacan Ilocano lowlanders. Six (33%) of the West. Lasam is an agricultural community respondents were Ilocano husbands married situated in the north-western portion of to Agay wives. The other six (33%) were Cagayan province. It is circumscribed on the Ilocano wives married to Agay husbands. Two northwest by the Municipality of , (11%) Kalinga wives married Agay husbands, Cagayan and Flora, ; on the east by and another two (11%) were Igorot wives who the and , Cagayan; on married Agay husbands. There was one (6%) the northeast by the municipality of Lal-lo; on Kalinga husband with Agay wife, and one (6%) the south by Sto. Nino, Cagayan; and on the Igorot husband with Agay wife. This shows southwest by the municipality of Rizal, that there was a dominant intermarriage Cagayan. The Municipality of Lasam has an between Agays and Ilocanos. This is attributed aggregate land area of approximately 23,400 to the reason that many Agays in Lasam were or 234 square kilometers. This is evenly mainstreamed with the Ilocano lowlanders, distributed among its 30 barangays. leading to the interaction and socialization of both groups with one another. Their trade Participants relationships and exposure to each other influenced their intermarriage phenomenon. The participants of the study were Madriaga and Lacanlale (2011) affirmed that eighteen intermarried Agays purposively the intermarriage of kulot (curly hair, refers to chosen through site selection approach guided Aetas) and unats (straight hair, refers to by these inclusion criteria: 1) the respondents lowlanders) was because of their co-existence must be a full-blooded Agay; and 2) must be in the community. married with children. Participation of the informants was voluntary. The purposive Table 2. Number of Years Married sampling was utilized to identify the informants of the study. It is a form of sampling in which Frequency Years Married Percent the process of selection of the sample is (n=18) based on the judgment of the researchers 5 years below 5 28 based on the criteria set in the study. The 5-10 years 8 44 researchers chose the Agay who had met 11-15 years 2 11 these criteria to be the informants of the study. 16-20 years 1 6 They responded based on the nature of their experiences and willingness to participate. For 21-25 years 1 6 ethical considerations, the respondents were 26 and above 1 6 informed that the interviews were recorded. Total 18 100% Autonomy, confidentiality anonymity, and reciprocity were observed by the researchers. Majority of the intermarriages were five to ten years (8 or 44%), while only 5, or III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 28%, were married five years and below. Intermarriages of 16-20 years, 21-25 years, Personal Characteristics of the Informants and 26 and above were fewer with only one informant for each bracket. The data show that Table 1. Type of Intermarriage most of the informants were married for 5 to 10 years. Intermarriage Frequency Percent Type (n=18) Table 3. Type of Habitation Ilocano Husband- 6 33 Agay Wife Frequency Kalinga Husband- Habitation Type Percent 1 6 (n=18) Agay Wife Temporary 2 11 Igorot Husband- 1 6 Semi-permanent 4 22 Agay Wife Permanent 12 67 Ilocana Wife-Agay 6 33 Husband Total 18 100% Kalinga Wife-Agay 2 11 Husband As revealed in Table 3, most of the Igorot Wife-Agay respondents were already having a permanent 2 11 Husband habitation, with a percentage of 67%. Twenty- Total 18 100% two percent had a semi-permanent settlement, and 11% was settling temporarily in their

present habitation. Based on the observation

Page | 36 during the data-gathering, informants having elementary undergraduate (7 or 39%). There permanent habitation were Agays intermarried were five (28%) unschooled, four (22%) with Ilocanos. The permanent houses of the elementary undergraduate, one (2%) high intermarried Agays were concrete and school undergraduate, and one (2%) high galvanized-roofed with rooms inclusive of school graduate. Likewise, low access to practically designed kitchens and appliances education and finances were reasons of a low such as television and radios. This signifies level of education among the informants. that most of the intermarried Agays were adapting the way of living of Ilocano Table 6. Educational Attainment of Wives lowlanders. Educational Frequency Percent Table 4. Type of Union Attainment (n=18) Unschooled 5 28 Frequency Elementary Union Type Percent 7 39 (n=18) Undergraduate Church marriage 8 44 Elementary 4 22 Civil marriage 4 22 Graduate High School Cohabitation 6 33 1 2 Total 18 100% Undergraduate High School 1 2 With the highest percentage of 44, Graduate eight intermarried Agay members had church Total 18 100% weddings solemnized by a pastor or priest. Four, or 22%, had civil weddings through the Most of the intermarried Agays had mass wedding conducted by the municipal three to four children (10 or 56%). Five, or mayor, while 6, or 33%, were cohabitating. 28%, of them, had 1-2 children; two, or 11%, Most of the Agays married at the church were had 5-6; and only one had seven to eight active born-again Christians. This finding children. This also shows that four was the implies that through the social interaction of average number of children. the Agays with the lowlander Ilocanos and other ethnic groups, their traditional way of Table 7. Number of Children marriage or wedding was not practiced. Number of Frequency Percent Table 5. Educational Attainment of Husbands Children (n=18) 1-2 5 28 Educational Frequency Percent 3-4 10 56 Attainment (n=18) 5-6 2 11 Unschooled 4 22 7-8 1 6 Elementary 7 39 9-above 0 0 Undergraduate Total 18 100% Elementary 3 17 Graduate High School 4 22 Table 8. Sources of Livelihood Undergraduate High School Sources of Frequency 1 6 Percent Graduate Livelihood (n=18) Total 18 100% Paid Labor 10 56 Farming 6 33 Most of the husbands of the Poultry Raising 2 11 intermarried Agays were elementary Total 18 100% undergraduates with 7 or 39% of them. Unschooled and high school undergraduate Paid labor was the common livelihood husbands shared the same percentage, 22% of the intermarried with 56%. Thirty-three or 4 respondents. Only three, or 17%, were percent engaged in farming, while 11% in elementary graduates, while only one, 6%, poultry-raising. Both husband and wife did the was a high school graduate. Low access to work. They helped each other in the cultivation education and finances were reasons of the of their farm. All respondents had their animals low level of education among the informants. like chickens, pigs, carabaos, and ducks as

As to the level of education of the alternative sources of their daily income. The intermarried wives, most of them were intermarried Agays also planted rice, potato,

Page | 37 taro, banana, and vegetables. mi nga makatulong kadakami aglalo no adda kalkalamidad (When we vote, we choose the Reasons of the Agays in Intermarrying candidates who we think can help us during calamities).” The primary reason initiating the intermarriage phenomenon of the informants They also had sentiments, stating that was migration due to economic motives. Most politicians only know them during elections. said, “Idi bimmaba kami manipod iti banbantay They were being fetched to vote at the nga ayan min, nakita nak ni lakay ko ket elementary schools. The politicians then gave nagin-nayaten kami metten idi mapmapan them rice or money, as an in format narrated, kami maki tantandan kadakwada (When we "No dadduma sada kami laeng am-ammo migrated to the lowlands from the mountains, I dagiti politico no panawen ti panagbobotos, was spotted by my husband, so he married me umay dakami nukwa daw-asen tapnu mapan because we work with them in paid labor).” kami makabotos. Ikkan dakami met nukwa iti This implies that a major factor of the bagas wenno kwarta (Sometimes, politicians intermarriage is through migration. Tamayao only knew us during elections. They fetched us (2011) noted that migration played an from our communities to vote. In turn, they important role in creating opportunities for gave us rice and money)” social connection like ethnic intermarriage. Many of them said that they seldom Another reason was love and attended government-sponsored programs courtship, as they stated, “Inar-arem nak met because there were times that they were ken agin-inayat kami (He courted me, and we engaged in paid labor when the barangay love each other).” The informants also captain calls for a meeting. Most also said they revealed poverty as another factor for danced during fiestas as requested by the intermarriage, and they would like to have a barangay captain. An informant said, "Makisal- good life by marrying an Ilocano lowlander. An sala kami met no barangay fiesta ta ibaga met informant said, "Naki-asawa nak ti Ilocano ta nukwa da kapitan nga makisala kami (We inarem nak met ken ammok nga adda taltalon danced during barangay fiesta because we da ta ngamin makitantandan kami idi were requested by our barangay captain).” kadakuada isu nga nakiasawa nakon (I married an Ilocano because he courted me, Concept of Education and I know they own a rice farm because my family works for them through paid labor that’s The intermarriage also manifested why I married him).” educational value, particularly for their children. They disliked that their children would The intermarriage between Agays and experience what they had experienced. An members of other groups happened because informant said, "Pagbasbasaen mi annak mi of their migration to the lowlands due to tapno addan to met napintas nga masakbayan economic difficulty, providing them a greater da. Han mi met kayat nga mapadasan da contact with other ethnic groups. They were dagiti napadasan mi gapo ta saan kami met aware that intermarriage was not only joining nakaadal (We send our children to school another family. This also means the because we would like them to have a good assimilation of different cultures in which a life in the future, and we do not like that they culture is being dominated by another. will experience what we had experienced because we did not finish studying)." Community Involvement of the Intermarried Agays There were also times that they had to decide to quit sending their children to school In terms of community involvement, because of financial reason. An informant the intermarried Agays occasionally attended said, "Nu dadduma marigatan kami, barangay assembly, voting during elections, pagsardeng mi palang dagiti annak mi aglalo and training sponsored by the local no adda agsakit kadakuada san mi met kaya a government units and other agencies. igastusan ida (There are times when we are short on money we let our children stop As voters, they were also aware that schooling to finance other concerns).” when choosing candidates during elections, the platforms should be considered. They The Agays also believed that voted for candidates who they think can help education is one of the best ways for them to them during calamities. As an informant said, escape poverty. An informant affirmed, "Nu agbotos kami pilyem mi met dagiti ammo "Mamati kami nga babaen iti panagadal

Page | 38 dagitoy annak mi ket maddaan da ti nasayaat meant that peace existed in their community. nga biag tapno saan danto met agrigrigat This means that absence of conflict among kasla kadakami (We believed that through family members and community members was education of our children, they will have a also an indicator of a good life to them. They good future, and they will not experience the believed that they would achieve a bad life if kind of poverty we are experiencing now).” they were in bad terms with other people.

The statement "Ammomi nga IV. CONCLUSION AND responsibilidad mi nga nagannak iti agpabasa RECOMMENDATIONS kadagit annak mi (We are aware that it’s our responsibility to send our children to school)” In general, the ethnic intermarriage of proves that the intermarried Agays were aware indigenous people particularly the Agays of of such responsibility. Once the children attend Lasam, Cagayan is attributed to their formal education, they would become literate economic engagement with other cultural as they said, “Kayat mi nga masursurwan da groups. They were in a low-income standard nga agbasa kada agsurat tapno nu makalpas of living caused by low level of education as a da met addanto met ti napintas nga trabaho da consequence; therefore, the intermarried (We would like our children to learn how to couples had a low level of community read and write so that when they finish involvement. It is also interesting to find that schooling, they will have a good job).” their aspirations in life were not far different from those of the ordinary families that are The respondents also viewed having a good life attained by the provision of education as an investment of their children. basic needs to their children and of good Thus, they also tried to allocate money for education to improve their standard of living. It their children’s schooling, setting aside a is therefore evidential that the intermarriage significant amount from their daily wage from phenomenon of the Agays with other cultural labor for the daily allowance of their children. groups eventually leads to the continued Moreover, David (2011) found that despite the change of the cultural way of living of the initiatives of the government to address the Agays. needs of the Aeta groups, access to education has not been well catered to. Most Aeta With ethnic intermarriage, community children have been neglected when it comes involvement, aspirations, and the concept of to education, that only a few of them were education among Agays of Lasam, Cagayan, attending formal schooling. Although public the following should be considered: schools are free, parents could not send their 1. An implication to the extension program children because of economic constraints. of Cagayan State University at Lasam, the following are proposed: (1.1) Initiate Aspirations extension programs that are sensitive to the intermarried Agay members; (1.2) Intermarried Agays wanted to provide implement programs aimed at improving their family the basic needs, which also make the farming and other livelihood skills of tehm happy. They said, "Naragsak kami nu the informants; (1.3) provision of work maited mi dagiti inaldaw nga kaspapulan ti opportunities in the community may help pamilya mi aglalo kadagiti annak mi nga them continue sending their children to agbasa (We are happy if we can provide the school; (1.4) implement literacy basic needs of our family particularly the program. needs of our children in going to school).” 2. Provision of scholarships to the children of intermarried Agays should be initiated They also aspired to send all their through the local government unit and children to school and finish schooling, as an other agencies. informant said, “Ar-arapaapen mi met nga 3. Continuous involvement in community mapaadal mi dagiti annak mi (We aspire to will be strengthened through the support send our children to school).” The aspirations of barangay officials, church members, of the intermarried Agays were similar to those and other agencies. of other Ilocano families. For them, sending 4. This intermarriage of Agays should be their children to school might bring them considered by development thinkers to satisfaction in life. review and revise their concepts and models for community development Additionally, more decent homes, intended for IPs. clothes, home furniture, and amenities also 5. Other studies pertaining to the material made them happy. Wellness, for the Agays, and non-material culture of the

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