Documentation And Preservation of Aeta Magbukon’s Oral Literature

John Albert R. Dela Rosa1, Ferdianne Antoine Bermudo2, Jerome A. Nuñez3 and Jenelyn Salon4,

1,2,3,4 BSE IV Social Studies Major, College of Education, Bataan Peninsula State University-Balanga Campus

E-mail add: oiugapeboj@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Ethnographic approach of qualitative research was utilized in documenting the oral literature of the Aeta’s Magbukon tribe with the aim of preserving it through various means. It was conducted in a Magbukon tribe community in Bangkal, Abucay, Bataan. Triangulation technique like field notes, in-depth structured interview and focused group discussion. Six elders of the tribe served as key informants of the study while the Aeta personnel of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP)-Bataan Chapter served as the gatekeeper. The field notes on which this work was based were examined by Aeta community elders and NCIP personnel concerned for the accurate representation of their oral literature and experience. Themes and trends present in this data were compared with the current literature on the Aeta Magbukon tribe. Some of the threats in the preservation of the oral literature are exposure of the Aetas to foreign culture, unwillingness to learn of the youth and some literature were forgotten by the elders. The mechanisms that the Aeta used to preserve their oral literature are initiative by the elders, integration to the daily activities, sharing traditions to the non-Aetas and education through cultural activities. It is recommended that a School of Living Tradition (SLT) must be established in the Magbukon community to teach the younger generation of the rich oral literature of the tribe. The oral literature of the Magbukon tribe must be included in the mainstream curriculum in the colleges and universities. The College of Education and the university must consider establishing a Center for Aeta Study which will pioneer the documentation and preservation of the oral literature of the Aetas.