November 14, 2015, 9:50p.m. – TO HELP preserve the cultural heritage of the Aetas, the UST Simbahayan Community Development Office marked “Araw ng mga Katutubo” (Day of Indigenous Peoples) earlier today with the University’s partner-communities in Tarlac.
“We helped organize this event para hindi makalimutan ang kultura nila (Aetas), that they will be proud of it, and [for us] to celebrate together with the communities,” Mark Anthony Abenir, Simbahayan director, said in an interview.
Representatives from sitios in Bamban, Tarlac, namely San Martin, Malasa, Sta. Rosa, Mabilog, Pook and Haduan performed in various cultural presentations.
The event, an annual celebration UST has participated in for more than a decade, was also a part of the Simbahayan’s distance education program. The program involves literacy education, with UST professors giving adult Aetas the necessary information they need to improve their living standards.
The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991 had displaced Aeta communities in its foothills, forcing them to relocate to nearby towns in Pampanga and Tarlac.
Nathaniel Siao of the College of Tourism and Hospital Management (CTHM) said the number of participants in this year’s celebration doubled from 80 people in 2014.
Organizers hope to draw more participants in the future to increase awareness on the Aeta culture. “Sana na-appreciate nila (administrators, faculty and students) kung ano yung ginagawa ng UST pagdating sa partner communities. Iba kasi pag nababasa o naririnig lang, kaya we made an effort to invite the whole University [to this event],” Siao said in a separate interview.
The event was joined by faculty members and students from CTHM, Education, Rehabilitation Sciences, Commerce and Business Administration, Ecclesiastical Faculties, Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, and Education High School, as well as representatives from the National Service Training Program, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and selected UST offices.
In January, the Simbahayan office will hold the annual “Pistang Tomas,” a livelihood and trade fair in which the University’s partner-communities will showcase their enterprises inside the campus. Kathryn V. Baylon and Dayanara T. Cudal
