Reanalysis of the Historical Existence of the Remontado Dumagats in Sierra Madre
One of the least studied and documented ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines is the Remontado Dumagat group inhabiting the Sierra Madre Mountains in Rizaland Quezon. This tribal group is considered by writers and researchers who mostlyworked on linguistics as a branch of the woolly haired and dark skinned Pygmyaborigines of the Philippines whom the Spaniards called Negritos. Other sourcesclaim that the Remontado Dumagats are but mestizos, offsprings of intermarriagesbetween a branch of the Malays (the dominant race among Austronesians) and theNegritos. But getting in close contact with the Remontado Dumagats, physicallymost of them are noticeably no different from those of the brown skinned andstraight haired Malay Filipinos like the Ilocanos, Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Bicolanos,Ilonggos, Karay-a Waray, etc. except that many of them resemble the physicalfeatures of the people of South Asia (the Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis).They are not short and small like the Negritos; instead, some of them are evenbigger and taller than the average Malay Filipinos. This paper dealt with thereanalysis of the historical existence of the Remontado Dumagats as a group. Itinvestigated who this group of people are and where they came from based on thedifferent explanations why they are called Remontado Dumagats; the dispersal oftheir population; their cultural distinctions and similarities with other indigenouspeople of the Philippines; a discussion of their social and political organization;and, the cultural transformation brought about by industrialization.