By RIC V. OBEDENCIO

Development of the Badjao tribe through education, while keeping its culture intact, must be done, according to Bohol Provincial Board Member Godofreda Tirol. In an exclusive interview, Tirol told said it has been her mission to instill in the Badjaos the value of being humans and an indigenous people, not on what others think about them. Tirol has been taking care of the Badjaos since 2007, making sure that they would be like any people in the mainstream of the society. They may lack education but they have families to care for, she said. The Badjaos live at the coastal area of Barangay Totolan in Dauis town, which belong to first district that is not within her legislative area of the third district. Educating and organizing these coastal people is "a tall order," but Tirol, who was also a dean of the University of Bohol, said "we must do it."

Allowing the Badjaos to go into begging in the streets has turned them into "eyesores" to many and letting their children paddle on bancas as a "fascinating scene" to tourists were never a good situation, said Tirol. Such situation would never motivate these people to seek for upliftment of their case, and the only way to understand them would be to educate them, while appreciating and recognizing their culture, distinct as they are, said Tirol. In a separate interview with some of the Badjaos, chieftain Mario Cuham's daughters, 21-year-old Lorna and 19-year-old Madonna, said they are now on their third year in Criminology course, with the help of a non-government organization. The two said they wanted to become policewomen someday. Their older sister Marina, now the teacher of a pre-school of the tribe, said that she and Badjao tutor, Marife Melecion, are teaching 50 schoolchildren. Each conducts classes in the morning and in the afternoon.

Marina told The Freeman she wanted to educate her fellow Badjaos but without discarding their culture and dialect. She and Melecion finished their teaching courses, courtesy of the government, according to Tirol. The Department of Labor and Employment, for its part, had planned to provide the tribe with initial capital or financial assistance under the promotion of employment and entrepreneurship programs. DOLE representative John Paul Nistal, in a power point presentation, explained that the agency would not give cash directly to a tribe member but help in procuring materials for a particular project, such as fish nets and boats, among others. Badjaos will also be trained with other skills for employment, he added. (FREEMAN)