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Republic
of
the
Philippines
HOUSEOF
REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon
City
FOURTEENTHCONGRESS
SecondRegularSession
HOOSE
RESOlUTIDNNo,
__
9
_4
3
INTRODUCED
by
BAYANMUNAReps.
SATUR
C,
OCAMPOandTEODORO
A.
CASltilO,ANAKPAWIS
Rep.
RAFAEL
V,
MARIANO,
GABRIELA
Reps.
lUZVIMINDA
C,
ILAGANand
L1ZA
L.
MAZA
RESOLUTIONURGINGTHE
COMMITIEE
ON
NATIONALCULTURAL
COMMUNITIES
TO
CONDUCTAN
INVESTIGATION,
IN
AID
OF
lEGISLATION,
ON
THE
VARIOUSCONTROVERSIES,INCLUDING
THE
DECLINEOFTHEIR
liNGUISTIC
AND
CULTURAL
TRADITIONS,
THAT
HOUNDTHE
INDIGENOUS
ESKAYATRIBE,
THE
CULTURAL
MINORITY
OFTHE
ISLAND
OF
BOHOl
WHEREAS,theEskaya
is
thecollectivenameforthemembers
of
aculturalminorityfound
in
Boholisland.Philippines.It
is
distinguishedbyitsculturalheritage,particularlyitsliteratureandlanguage,althoughmany
of
itsearliertraditionalpracticesarenolongerstrictlyobserved;WHEREAS,variousreportsindicatethattheEskayalinguisticandculturaleducationhasbeen
in
steadydeclinesincethemid-1980s;WHEREAS,legally,theEskayaareclassifiedasanindigenousgroupundertheIndigenousPeoplesRightsAct
of
1997(RepublicAct
8371
);
WHEREAS,mostmembers
of
theEskayacommunityinhabitamountainousareathatintersectsthemunicipalities
of
Duere,Guindulman,Pilar,andSierraBullones
in
theonce-forestedregion
of
Bohol'ssoutheastinterior.TheoriginalEskayasettlement
of
Biabas(Guindulman),wasestablished
in
theearly20thcenturybyMarianoDatahanwhodied
in
1949.
In
1
951
,thesecondtownship
of
Taytay(municipality
of
Duere)wasfounded
by
FabianBaja.Today,significantEskayapopulationsmaybefound
in
thenearbytownships
of
Canta-ub,Lundag,Tambongan,CadapdapanandFatima;WHEREAS,in1996,theEskayacommunitywasawardedaCertificate
of
AncestralDomainTitle(CADT)bythenPresidentFidelRamos.Butanofficialcensus
of
theEskayapopulationhasyettobedone.Oneunofficialreportestimatesthatin
1991
therewere130Eskayafamiliesliving
in
Bohol;
WHEREAS,
thespeechvarietyoftheEskaya
is
known
as
Eskayan,
or
Ineskaya
in
thelocalCebuanolanguage.Lexically,Eskayanshowsnoclearrelationshipwithanyknownlanguagealthoughthere
is
strongbutinconsistentSpanishinfluence.Astrikingfeatureofthelanguageisitsunusualphonotactics,such
as
itspatterns
of
consonantand
vowel
clusters;
WHEREAS,
theEskayanwritingsystemtakestheform
of
asyllabaryof
over
1,000characters,allmodeledonpartsofthehumanbodyincludinginternalorgans.ThisuniquescripthasbeencomparedvariouslytoPhoenician,Etruscan,Hebrew,andeventheundecipheredscriptoftheButuanpaleograph.Whiletherearenomother-tonguespeakersofEskayan,itistaughttobothadultsandchildren
in
volunteer-runculturalschools.TheEskayanlanguageandscripthasbeentheobjectofongoingcontroversythatimperilstheEskayatribeitself;
WHEREAS,
underthedirectionofMarianoDatahan,thegroup
convertedenmasse
tothenascentPhilippineIndependentChurchinabout1902.CommunitymembersstillreveretheentitySunowhich
is
conflatedwiththeSantoNino,and
in
additiontoweeklychurchservicestheyareservedbyappointedspiritualleadersknownas
biki
and
beriki.
TheEskayaalsoretainspiritualtraditionsoncewidespread
in
lowlandBoholanoruralcommunities;
WHEREAS,
theteachingofEskayan
in
thevolunteerschoolsisoneofthefewremainingculturalpracticesoftheEskayacommunity.
In
thepast,EskayamenwouldwearshirtsmadeofpinaraffiawithaChinese-stylecollar,blackbreeches,andcottonberetswhilethewomenworepinadresseswithbulging
sleeves;
WHEREAS,
untilrecently,theEskayapracticedaformofcommunalfarming
in
whichaportionoftheland
in
theirareaswastilledforthebenefitofthewholecommunity;
WHEREAS,
theEskayacommunityhasbeentheobject
of
anongoingcontroversy,particularlywithregardstoitsstatus
asan
indigenousgroupandtheclassificationoftheEskayanlanguage;
WHEREAS,
intensespeCUlation
in
the1980sand1990sonthepartofjournalistsandlayhistoriansgeneratedanumberoftheoriesthatcontinueto
be
elaboratedwithoutresolution;
WHEREAS,
ithasbeenarguedvariouslythattheEskayaarearemnant
of
theoriginalindigenoussettlers
on
Sohal;thattheymigratedtoSohalfromSumatra
in
theseventhcenturyA.D.;thattheyaredescendantsoftheresistancegroupsthatfoughtunderFranciscoDagohoy;thattheyareacultorsecretsociety;orthattheyareaconsciousreconstruction
of
animaginedpre-colonialsociety;
WHEREAS,
thedearth
of
government
information
on
theEskayatribe'sprogressandgovernmenteffortstodeliversocialservicestotheirancestraldomainaddfueltothespeculationfromvariousquartersandcontributetothedecline
of
variousaspectsoftheirtraditions;
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