Nostalgia of South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi

This is not about Oliver North of Fox News war reporting in the southern Philippines. This is about the personal account and snapshot of Hector Minoza in the early days of 2004 visit at South Ubian island of Tawi-Tawi.




South Ubian – is among of the many islands in the southern Philippines that are not known to common Filipino people. This island municipality had a total population of more or less 27,300 in the year 2000. The indigenous people are predominantly the Sama tribe.

Luckily, I was able to visit the island community and witness the distinctive lifestyle of the Sama people. This was a memorable experienced I’ve encountered during my interface with the locals, listening to their sentiments, their stories, their despair in life, their dreams, and their strong faith to survive economically. The locals had a hard life to cope with their problem on scarcity of potable water and they are used to take rainwater for their continued existence. Their livelihood is highly dependent with what resources available they can catch at Celebes Sea.