Dumagat people
Agta | |
|---|---|
Dumagats selling goods at a public market in Baliwag, Bulacan | |
| Total population | |
| Est. 5,000 to 6,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Luzon, Philippines | |
| Languages | |
| Casiguran Dumagat Agta, Hatang-Kayi, Tagalog | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, folk religions | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Negrito people, Filipino people |
The Dumagat people (also spelled Dumaget), sometimes collectively referred to as the Dumagat–Remontados or just simply Remontados, are an indigenous subgroup of the Negrito peoples in the Philippines. The name "Dumagat" is an exonym given by lowland Tagalog speakers, literally meaning "from the sea," though it is used as an endonym by some Negrito communities along the Umiray River and surrounding areas. Many communities refer to themselves as Agta, meaning "human" in their native language.
They inhabit both upland and coastal areas along the Sierra Madre mountain range and nearby provinces, including Aurora, Quezon, Rizal, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija. Traditionally, they practice semi-nomadic subsistence through hunting, fishing, swidden agriculture (or locally known as kaingin), farming, and forest gathering. Despite pressures from development, logging, and mining, the Dumagat continue to assert their cultural identity and ancestral domain rights under the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA).