CLARK FIELD — When the imperious Gen. Douglas MacArthur still walked these parts, he gave orders that all Balugas (Aetas to textbook worms) be given free access to this then American air base, and more.Access meant that nobody, neither the military police nor civilian guards, messed with the short, black, kinky-haired negritos. They walked in and out of the installation like they owned the place.The Balugas never needed that gate pass required of outsiders to enter the tightly-secured base of the US 13^th Air Force. Their distinctive look, often accented by a g-string and some beads, was all they needed to identify themselves.

The Aetas were entitled to full and free medical care in the Clark medical center, then the biggest and best-equipped in the region. It was not unusual to see a Baluga in pain wheeled in, grimy and unshod, and given the same attention that an ailing or wounded American officer would get.

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EXPLOITED: The Balugas were also granted exclusive rights to mine the huge base dump where the trash and garbage of wasteful on-base Americans were thrown.

Exploiting them, Chinese businessmen bought at ridiculously low price the surplus and usable trash carted out of the dump. That was the beginning of the US surplus and PX (post exchange) trade in Mabalacat proper and in barangay Dau.

Despite their bows and arrows, the Balugas were issued firearms to help guard the airfield whose perimeter fence did not deter the pilferers attracted like ants to sugar. Now and then, one spotted a Baluga toting a Garand rifle that stood taller than him.

The more seasoned hunters among them were hired as instructors for American and allied visiting forces training at Clark in jungle lore and survival. (They still do at Subic)

Do not be scandalized if you bump into a Baluga sporting the family name Magsaysay. Do not think that the late President Ramon Magsaysay sort of sowed wild oats in the jungle. The Balugas just worshiped their fellow Zambaleño and some of them freely adopted his surname.

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NEXT FRONTIER: All this is being recalled, because the Balugas are again at the crossroads of Clark’s development. Unaware of the implications of being overtaken by progress, they may again be exploited or short-changed.

With the full occupancy of Clark’s core area of 10,000 hectares developed around the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and the adjacent leisure parks, authorities are now looking northward for more space.

And a choice area in what the planners call the “Next Frontier” in the Bamban town of Tarlac (plus a small part in Mabalacat) happens to be a thriving Baluga village.

Benigno N. Ricafort, president and CEO of the Clark Development Corp. overseeing the growth of the subzone, said they want to integrate the ethnicity and livelihood of the Balugas into the grand design.

This will require an inter-agency multi-disciplinary approach.

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LANDGRABBERS: My first impulse as a wizened kibitzer is to stop immediately the influx into the area, make a quick census and compare it with demographic data gathered five and 10 years ago.

The purpose is to delineate clearly — primarily in terms of area and population — what may emerge as another contentious “ancestral domain” issue.

As of last census, there are 1,866 aeta households in 12 sitios there, 32 percent of them being “kulot.” The term refers to those who sport short kinky hair, as opposed to the “unat” whose hair has grown longer and straighter over years of intermarriage.

Expect carpetbaggers — some of them with politicians behind them — to suddenly appear (if they have not appeared yet) to grab as much aeta land as they possibly can occupy and fence. How can the genuine Balugas, many of them unlettered, contend with such systematic encroachment?

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BASIC SERVICES: MacArthur may have been impressed by them, but the aetas are helpless by themselves.

So, as Magsaysay said “he who has less in life must have more in law,” the government must step in with affirmative action to tilt the balance back to their favor.

I would not be surprised if there are already radical elements telling Balugas about their, you guessed it!, ancestral domain and their rights as an ethnic minority.

Before the aetas are lost to provocateurs and landgrabbers, and even before CDC starts in earnest its Next Frontier plan, the government must focus and maximize its services in education, public health, livelihood, housing and utilities, and roads.

The rest will follow easily after that is done.

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TRIBAL TRIP: “Ancestral domain” will not be a springboard for a separate state for the aetas, because they are not warlike. Besides, they are not armed to the teeth and bolstered by foreign manipulators the way the Moros are.

An ancestral development model that comes to mind is based on the recognition of the tribal rights of American Indians by legislation and judicial affirmation.

The 460-hectare aeta reservation north of Clark proper could be, or should be, recognized as tribal or ancestral land and the natives given a meaningful measure of autonomy as a matter of right.

The CDC and other agencies can develop and integrate the aeta area as a tourism-industrial complex. Like the American indians, the aetas could be helped to operate casinos and specialty shops to raise revenue for a self-sustaining reservation.

Their tribal villages can be preserved or restored to mirror the tribal communities existing in pre-Hispanic times. With the casino, their reservation can be marketed as a tourism destination and investment zone.

In this preliminary stage, we should fend off interlopers, fake aetas, and such operators.