Village on stilts in Tongkil, Samales Islands, Philippines (6°04’ N, 121°47’ E).
The southern Philippines, and particularly the Sulu Archipelago that includes the Samales Islands, are home to the Badjaos. Known as “sea gypsies”, they fish and gather shellfish and pearl oysters and live in villages on stilts, such as the one seen here. A channel carved in the coral reef allows them to reach the open sea. The Badjaos belong to the Philippines’ Muslim minority, which makes up 5 percent of the population in a country of catholic majority, where they have long been discriminated against. Though the area’s exceptional nature is ideal for tourism, the industry is having trouble developing due to armed communist insurrections and Muslim separatist movements based in the south of the country. These conflicts have rocked the Philippine Islands since the early 1970s and have caused 120.000 casualties in three decades. Talks and ceasefires alternate with periods of violence in this country where 40 percent of the population lives beneath the poverty threshold, birthrate is among the highest in Asia and the economy depends heavily on the diaspora.
