Tasaday

Airing on June 22, 2009 Monday late night after Saksi In 1971, a band of cave-dwelling people called the Tasadays was discovered in a very remote rainforest in South Cotabato. They were allegedly living a very Paleolithic lifestyle, using tools made of stone and wood, surviving in the wild by hunting animals, and wearing leaves for clothing. This was hailed by the international media as one of the greatest anthropologic discoveries that time, declaring the 26 members of the tribe as living proofs that prehistoric life is still in existence in the Philippines back then. However, news reports came out thirteen years after that the Tasaday’s story was a big hoax and their story was just created to boost the growing worldwide popularity of the Marcos regime. Since then, no news was ever heard about the Tasadays again… until now. This Monday on I-Witness, award-winning documentarist Kara David becomes the first Filipino journalist to ever set foot on the Tasaday enclave thirty years after its much publicized discovery. Kara climbs mountains and crosses several rivers in Mindanao to reach the Tasaday’s current dwelling, the town of Tosofu in Lake Sebu in South Cotabato. Kara meets Lobo, the 12-year old Tasaday poster boy who now acts as the tribe’s chieftain. Lobo relates how their life was after they were labeled as a hoax by the foreign media. Kara also meets Dul, one of the oldest members of the tribe. He leads Kara and her I-Witness crew to the infamous caves where they were discovered and put them to international prominence during the ‘70s. Is the Tasaday story for real or really just a hoax? Kara David tries to unravel the truth behind the forgotten story of the Tasaday tribe in the groundbreaking I-Witness documentary “Tasaday," airing this Monday midnight over GMA-7 after the late night newscast Saksi.

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Taong 1971 nang makuha ng Pilipinas ang atensyon ng buong mundo sa pagkakadiskubre ng isang tribo sa South Cotabato na tila naiwan ng panahon. Tinawag silang mga Tasaday, mga taong nabubuhay pa rin sa prehistorikong pamamaraan ng pamumuhay. Suot ang mga dahon bilang damit at mga kagamitang gawa sa bato at kahoy, idineklara sila ng international media bilang isa sa pinakamahalagang anthropological discovery ng panahong iyon. Pero noong 1986, matapos mapatalsik ang Pangulong Marcos, sunod-sunod na lumabas ang mga balitang nagsasabing peke ang kuwento ng mga Tasaday. Gawa-gawa lang daw ng mga tao ni Marcos ang kuwento ng tribo, ayon sa pag-aaral ng mga dalubhasa. Mula noon, wala nang kahit anong balita ang lumabas tungkol sa mga Tasaday. Ngayong Lunes sa I-Witness, isang Filipino journalist ang makakapasok sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon sa tribo ng mga Tasaday dalawampung taon matapos sumambulat ang kontrobersiya. Samahan ang award-winning journalist na si Kara David sa kanyang pagpasok sa teritoryo ng mga Tasaday sa bayan ng Tosofu sa Lake Sebu sa South Cotabato. Tatawirin ni Kara ang ilang ilog at aakyatin ang maraming bundok sa Mindanao para muling buksan at mailahad sa publiko ang kuwento ng mga Tasaday. Makikilala ni Kara David si Lobo, ang labindalawang taong gulang na Tasaday na nagging poster boy noon ng tribo, pero ngayo’y pinuno na ng kanyang grupo. Ilalahad ni Lobo ang naging buhay nila matapos ang kontrobersiya. Makikilala rin ni Kara si Dul, isa sa pinakamatandang Tasaday ngayon, at sasamahan siya nito sa kuwebang tinirhan ng tribo noong dekada sitenta at nagdala sa kanila ng kasikatan at kontrobersiya. Totoo nga ba ang kuwento ng mga Tasaday, o gawa-gawa lamang? Samahan si Kara David himayin ang kuwento ng mga Tasaday ngayon sa isang napaka-espesyal na dokumentaryo ng I-Witness ngayong Lunes ng hatinggabi, pagkatapos ng Saksi dito lang sa GMA-7.