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Friday, March 29, 2024

Aeta, 19, saved from traditional tribal execution

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Porac, Pampanga—Anton Santos, 19, a member of Aeta in an upland community, was forced to lead for his funeral procession at gunpoint to a cemetery where a six-foot-deep pit and white coffin was readied for him at Sitio Balangkas in Barangay Camias here.

Anton was facing sure death to redeem his family from a blood debt, when his father Tony killed a fellow Aeta, Siete Serrano, sometime in Feb. 26, 2013. He was then a teenager when the incident happened, said Elizabeth Baybayan, head of the Provincial Social Welfare Office.

"Anton was minutes away from his pit when Governor Dennis Pineda, Porac local officials and the police led by Lt. Colonel Levi Hope Basilio arrived and halted the customary execution," said Baybayan.

Under the Aeta tradition, Baybayan said a member of a family must pay the blood debt at all costs. The so-called "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" is part of the Aeta tribe’s customary laws.

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She added that Anton left the upland and went into hiding for six long years. He was forced to surface last week when news broke out that his mother was being threatened by Serrano family in exchange for him.

Sensing his son is endanger, Anton's mother Marissa sought the help of government officials to intervene and put a stop to the traditional execution. Led by First Pampanga Provincial Mobile Force Company Lt. Col. Michael Masangkay and Basilio, policemen rescued Anton in the nick of time and took custody of him.

"We respect their customs, but the government is the right entity to render justice," Governor Pineda said.

Pineda called Baybayan Mayor Jing Capil, Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative Edwin Abuque and the barangay councils to a dialogue at Bgys. Camias and Planas between the feuding families.

The Santos and Serrano families, Baybayan said, agreed to bury the hatchet, as they affixed their thumb marks to finally put the matter to rest. Should violence erupt again, they promised to submit themselves to the legal justice system. Governor Pineda and Mayor Capil stood as witnesses.

"I appeal to our tribal brothers and sisters. Let us put our families and communities at peace. Let us follow the laws of our country. Do not take the law in your hands," said Pineda.

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