The Batak are one of about 140 indigenous peoples of the Philippines. They are located in the northeastern portions of Palawan, a relatively large island in the southwest of the archipelago. Since ancient times, the Batak have inhabited a series of river valleys along the coastline of what is today Puerto Princesa City. Also called Tinitianes, the Batak are considered by anthropologists to be closely related to the Aeta of Central Luzon, another Negrito tribe. They tend to be small in stature, with dark skin and frizzy or curly hair, traits which originally garnered the "Negrito" groups their name. Still, there is some debate as to whether the Batak are related to the other Negrito groups of the Philippines or actually to other, physically similar groups in Indonesia or as far away as the Andaman Islands.

History

The Batak have for centuries combined a hunting-gathering lifestyle with seeding of useful food plants, kaingin, a slash and burn farming method,

The Batak were largely undisturbed until the arrival of the Americans in the final years of the nineteenth century. The reason for this was that the Bataks were within the margins of mainstream Filipino political and cultural life. Communities also experience high infant mortality and low birth rates.

The Batak are working to acquire Certificates of Ancestral Domains Titles for their traditional lands in Puerto Princesa.

Culture

The Batak were once a nomadic people, but have since, at the behest of the government, settled in small villages. Still, they often go on gathering trips into the forest for a few days at a time, an activity which has both economic and spiritual value for them. Their belief system is that of animism, which is belief in spirits that reside in nature. They classify spirits into the "Panya'en" who are malevolent and the "Diwata" are generally benevolent but are also capricious. Batak make regular offerings to these spirits, and Shamans undergo spiritual possession in order to communicate with the spirits and heal the sick.

Rapid depopulation, restricted forest access, sedentary living, and incursion by immigrants has devastated the group culturally. Today, very few Batak marry other Batak but tend to marry from other neighboring groups. The pattern has been that the children of these marriages tend not to follow Batak cultural ways, and today "pure" Batak are rare. They are also not reproducing to sustain their population. As a result, Batak are being absorbed into a more diffuse group of upland indigenous peoples who are slowing losing their tribal identities, and with it their unique spirituality and culture; there is even some debate as to whether or not they still exist as a distinct ethnic entity.

Batak families trace descent through both sides of the family. Kin relationships are similar to those of the Filipinos. Since the Batak are discouraged from using the birth name of their in-laws, they have multiple personal names. Divorce and remarriage used to be common and acceptable among the Batak but integration to mainstream Filipino society has changed this to a degree. Husbands and wives usually enjoy equal freedoms though the wives tend to live in their husband's household except for the early stages of the marriage when both live in the wife's household. Nuclear households are the basic economic unit though multiple households can and do pool their resources. However, the nuclear household is expected to be self-reliant. Batak households tend to have few children with the average being 3.5 persons.

  • Diwata: a benevolent god who provides for the needs of women and men, and gives out rewards for good deeds
  • Baybay: the goddess and master of rice who originated from Gunay Gunay, the edge of the universe; married to Ungaw
  • Ungaw: the god and master of bees who originated from Gunay Gunay, the edge of the universe; married to Baybay