Areaware’s Bow Bins are made by the Aeta people, indigenous inhabitants of the Philippines who retain their ancient traditions, customs and language. It is believed that they arrived from Africa thousands of years ago. For the last several hundred years, they have faced racial discrimination and been driven off their ancestral lands, retreating to remote forested highlands. Here they live in small villages, where they engage in subsistence farming, hunting and gathering, and basket weaving. Basket making with sustainably harvested rattan has been an important part of their cultural and economic life. This, coupled with the work of NGOs such as Preda, have enabled the Aeta people to reclaim some of their ancestral lands. In 2010, seventeen square kilometers were returned to them by the Philippine government.

Please find more information about the Aeta people and the NGO Preda below.

 

THE AETA ETHNIC PEOPLE OF ZAMBALES

The Aeta people of Zambales  are the original tribal inhabitants of the Philippines and are believed to have emerged from Africa thousands of years ago and occupied the land before the arrival of the Malays and Asian groups. They have survived as forest dwellers and as hunters and gatherers for thousands of years.  The Aeta people are a peaceful and non-violent indigenous people with their own traditions, customs, identity, and their own language called Sambal.

During the past hundred years they have been pushed further away from the coast line into the mountains as the new arrivals, the Malays and then the Spanish took over and began to cut back the rain forest and develop settled agriculture. The Aeta people have thus been driven off their ancestral  lands. Their survival strategy in the face of overwhelming superior force was to retreat to the remote forested highlands where today they live in small villages and still hunt and gather in the remaining forest and do some subsistence farming. They plant sweet potato, corn, banana, and a variety of vegetables, They also have goats and chickens. They harvest honey mango and wild banana from the remaining mountain top forests.       

Traditionally they have woven their own baskets made of sliced rattan that grows abundantly in the forest which is their ancestral domain. For forest protection and sustainability this rattan is now commercially cultivated in other parts of the Philippines and can be supplied more easily from these sustainable sources.

The Aeta have suffered racial discrimination and receive little recognition and support from the government, and during the past fifty years and have lost  much of their ancestral domain to land grabbers, loggers and mining operations backed by corrupt politicians and officials. However, in recent years their cause has been taken up by Non-government Organizations like Preda to help them organize and win back their rights. Landmark legislation known as the Republic Act No. 8371 - The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 was a breakthrough and gave them  the chance to get back their lost lands.  Preda was their strong ally in implementing this. On January 14, 2010, a major section of ancestral domain land in Botolan, Zambales was returned to the Aeta people.

 

PREDA

The history of Preda is closely connected to the lives of the Aeta people of Zambales. When Preda was established in 1974 on the outskirts of Olongapo City on the shores of Subic Bay, the town was a navy town hosting the US Naval base. Preda began its handicraft livelihood training in wicker furniture manufacturing in order to help out-of-school youth on the street, and youth in conflict with the law. The youths were trained and employed at the Preda Fair Trade project.

Preda development workers wanted to buy the split rattan directly from the Aeta people, who were previously selling to lowland traders but were not fairly paid. Preda Fair trade workers established a trading post directly in the villages in the mountains of Zambales, paid them fair prices, and provided transportation to bring the rattan to the Preda workshop. The work of Preda has improved the lives of the Aeta people on several levels - Preda workers helped the Aeta people buy supplies at the town markets at fair prices and helped the Aeta people get access to medical help and medicine.  

Being skilled in traditional basket weaving, the Aeta villagers were able to use these skills to make various designs needed by the international market and over the years the Aeta people prospered with this business and were able to send their children to schools. Preda assisted them by sharing the earnings of sales and giving scholarships to the youth, and helping some Aeta youth through college. These youths are the leaders of the Aeta people today.

The Aeta ethnic people have since developed a sense of empowerment and organization. In recent years, after the passing of the The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997, the Aeta group that Preda works with applied for their ancestral domain land rights in 2002. After years of work with the bureaucracy, they achieved their rights to 17 square kilometers, awarded to them on January 14, 2010.

The mining companies who make unjust claims on the ancestral lands have posed a threat of more loss of land until even now. This is the ongoing struggle and Preda is helping the Aeta hold on to their rights and lands.

     

PREDA'S MISSION STATEMENT

To win freedom and a new life for children in jails.
To save young girls from brothels.
To shelter and provide therapy for sexually abused children.
To provide legal help to abandoned youth and those mired in poverty.
To help abused women, indigenous people.
To protect the environment
To alleviate poverty through establishing livelihood projects and fair trade initiatives.

The heart of Preda’s mission is working for a fair world where equality, justice, human dignity and rights are respected for all.
Empowering impoverished and vulnerable people is at the heart of the values. To change the world of poverty and bring light into the darkness, to replace misery with happiness, ignorance with enlightenment, imprisonment with freedom, hunger with prosperity and self-reliance. ‘Empowerment means helping people to help themselves’ is one of Preda's guiding mottos. The mission and vision of Preda and all of its members is to make these values a reality in as many lives as possible.

Preda campaigns, lobbies and conducts educational seminars and workshops on social and environmental issues and human rights.  

Contact:
Preda Center
Upper  Kalaklan, Olongapo City
2200 Philippines 
Phone +63 47 223 9629,   
predair@info.com.ph 
www.preda.org
www.preda.net